Bloodlust
by OliviaBethany
Summary: Something is happening to Kyoya, and it's becoming harder to control as time passes by. When the police get involved, and the number of 'victims' start piling up, Kyoya decides it has gone way too far. So he goes to someone he knows he can trust with his secret, and his developing need. But as their friendship takes on an odd and close nature, will it become more than just that?
1. 1

Kyoya closed the bathroom door gently behind them, turning and facing Tamaki. Tamaki just stood there, blinking, as if waiting for something. Kyoya flicked the lights off, and they couldn't see a thing until their eyes adjusted- even then, they could barely each others silhouettes. Kyoya didn't say anything for a moment, and didn't move.

"...Uh, Kyoya?" Tamaki finally broke the silence, getting a little worried. He knew what he'd agreed to, but he probably didn't know just what his body was getting into. He... understood Kyoya's situation, and he wanted to help, but... there was still just a bit of uneasiness. Disturbance, even... It was hard to imagine that Kyoya was, some kind of... monster. He outwardly cringed at that thought, no. Kyoya wasn't a monster, he was a friend, he'd never... hurt him, not either way around. Right?

Before he could say or think anything more, he felt hands on his chest near his shoulders, pushing him back slowly. He stepped backwards along with the push and soon hit the wall lightly. He slid down the wall on his back, Kyoya coming with him.

Kyoya situated himself on Tamaki so that he was somewhere between straddling him, and sitting between his legs, but he still didn't say anything. Tamaki blinked, avoiding his eyes even though he could barely see them. He cleared his throat,

"Kyoya... this is a little..."

"Be quiet."

Those were first words he'd said since they arrived at his home.

Tamaki shut his mouth.

He felt Kyoya's hands start to travel around on his neck, feeling on his skin. When he got to his uniform shirt's collar, he paused. He resumed just as quickly, undoing the tie and pulling it off, tossing it to the side. He hastily unbuttoned the shirt all the way. Tamaki stayed deathly still, holding his breath slightly. It was strange to be in this kind of position with Kyoya, with him, undressing him this way. This entire situation was very strange, and he was maybe more than slightly uncomfortable with it. But if what he was doing would help Kyoya, then... well, he'd go through with it. Kyoya was his best friend, he couldn't just let...

His thoughts were cut off. He felt Kyoya push the shirt away from his chest and neck but not pull it off all the way, leaving it just around his shoulders and on his arms. He touched the spot where he could find Tamaki's pulse.

"Your heart rate has quickened." He stated simply, in a tone that Tamaki almost didn't recognize at first. It was odd, low... It made this a bit more difficult, Kyoya was making him nervous. Kyoya stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "Try to stay calm. I need your body in a relaxed state, otherwise this may hurt you more than is within my control."

"Th-That's not really helping." He found himself stuttering. Jeez, he hadn't even realized. He recognized the fear building inside him, though, and took a deep breath. He wasn't scared of Kyoya... Not really. He was scared of what he was about to do to him. _It can't be that bad, right?_

"I'm not going to hurt you, Tamaki." He said in the same low tone he'd been using, but probably not on purpose. He glanced to the side, as if reevaluating what he'd just said "...Not intentionally."

"Heh... Still not helping." Tamaki laughed nervously, voice audibly shaking.

"You don't have to go through with this." As those words left, his voice cracked ever so slightly, but Tamaki noticed. Kyoya wasn't even looking at him- he was staring at his chest.

Tamaki took another deep breath, "No, I do... It's okay. I know you don't want me to change my mind now." He looked straight at Kyoya's eyes finally, but Kyoya was still staring down at his chest. He didn't say a word in response.

"You are making me nervous, though." He said with a slight chuckle in his voice, mixed with the uneasiness he was feeling. He tried to stay calm as he was told to.

"Mm..." Kyoya breathed, eyes going half lidded as he stared. Tamaki only watched him. This Kyoya was very different than the one he'd come to know, but there was a reason for that. Right now, though, he couldn't think about that.

His eyes took on a cloudy, tranced appearance.

Tamaki's own eyes widened a bit. He'd never seen that before. But still, he forced himself to stay calm, to not get his pulse quickening again. He slowly looked to the side, more so to move his neck than to look at anything- encouraging Kyoya. He gulped faintly.

Kyoya took his glasses off, setting them to the side. He positioned one hand on Tamaki's neck in an odd way, as if he was mapping something. He traced his index finger along a certain area with his other hand lightly. Tamaki fidgeted. He stayed still as he could manage, letting his eyelids drop slightly. His breathing slowed. What was Kyoya doing to him?

"I apologize for this..." Came Kyoya's voice in an half whisper as he tilted Tamaki's head back and to the side. Tamaki's lips were parted slightly. He stared off into nothing. He felt Kyoya's lips meet that spot on his neck, but didn't feel teeth.

Kyoya's eyes were nearly closed as he sucked at Tamaki's neck. Considering their position, if anyone walked in and saw this, they would immediately assume something very different from what was actually going on was happening here. But Kyoya couldn't help that. What he was doing was not meant to be sexual, though it appeared. He was numbing Tamaki as far as he could, in his abilities. He knew that what he was about to do was going to hurt, and it was going to hurt a lot. The least he could do was put Tamaki into the calmest state possible, and try to make this certain spot less vulnerable to pain, if only by a small amount.

He moved away, staying not inches away from that spot.

He opened his mouth wide, revealing two pointed fangs in the upper row of his teeth. There wasn't much time to admire, though. Because as soon as that was done, he bit down.

Tamaki's eyes shot wide open, he took in a sharp breath. "_Nn-nn!_" he grunted loudly, right away, echoing off the bathroom walls. His breathing picked up but he was taking in only short, quick little breaths that seemed to cut off from going all the way down and start again, in rhythm with Kyoya as he audibly gulped. This situation got very intense, very fast. His hands came up, trembling, and gripped at Kyoya's back. His nails raked Kyoya's skin through his shirt, but Kyoya seemed to ignore it.

It hurt. It burned. It was the most excruciating pain he could ever recall going through physically. His teeth clenched and he tried to breath in regularly, but he couldn't manage. He just kept taking in cut-off breaths that his lungs spit back out the moment the oxygen entered. He squeezed his eyes shut, clutching Kyoya harder. He wanted him to _stop_. Tears spilled from his closed eyes, he couldn't hold back. He'd definitely underestimated what he was getting into. He couldn't think straight, couldn't think at all. The only thing that registered was the burning sting, and how amazingly relaxed Kyoya seemed to be.

"_Ah-ahh!_" he cried, panting.

Kyoya didn't seem to notice at all. His eyes were shut completely, and he was breathing in and out slowly, heavily. He didn't even react when Tamaki's back arched, his nails probably making bruises on his back. He was in some kind of trance. He got this odd sort of satisfaction throughout his entire body and he wrapped his arms low around Tamaki's waist mindlessly as he quaked.

"K... Kyo..." He breathed, trying to reach him. He couldn't take this much longer. He thought he might black out, he was getting lightheaded, and though it wasn't visible in this darkness, his _skin _was becoming paler. If taken too far, blood loss can, no doubt, kill.

Kyoya opened his eyes half way. He closed his eyes once more, sliding his hands up Tamaki's back instinctively and holding him. He stopped drinking and pulled his teeth out of Tamaki's flesh. Tamaki took in a overly deep breath and collapsed over into Kyoya, as Kyoya was still sitting on his middle. He gripped at the back of his shirt weakly, hands trembling. Kyoya pushed him back against the wall with his own body and lowered his mouth again to that same spot. Tamaki was too out of it to notice. He licked at the wound he'd left, a trail of blood running down Tamaki's chest. He licked it up, feeling Tamaki's shaking turn into shivers as he did so. He was too out of breath to speak. Kyoya's eyes were just barely open and the look in his eyes made him seem like he wasn't even there anymore. He went back to the wound and started sucking on it.

Tamaki's head was tilted far back, mouth open and jaw a bit shaky. His eyes were closed. He was relieved that it had stopped, but now he just felt sick. He had a small head ache but to make that worse was his lightheadedness and the ringing in his ears.

The sickness started to ease slowly as Kyoya continued. The burning left behind on the wound started to disappear. His panting finally began to settle down and he closed his mouth, brow furrowing lightly. He had his back straight as a board, but started to relax and lean back into the wall once more. His fingers spread and curled against Kyoya's back as he sucked at his neck.

"M-Mm." He moaned quietly, but stopped himself. His brow furrowed, he tried to ignore it. This situation was hitting a little too close than he'd like it to. He didn't look forward to Kyoya waking up, from whatever sort of odd state he was in, mainly because it might be... somewhat awkward. For himself, at least, he knew it would be.

Kyoya's mind had practically gone completely blank. He was acting on instinct. Having someone volunteer willingly to let him do this was rare, and he was indulging in the taste. The taste of Tamaki's blood, of his skin. His scent, being familiar, made it more intoxicating than any some girl he'd go after. He only went after them because he knew they would forget afterwards, and they'd hold him over, so he didn't break. He felt horrid about it, but that was the reality to the situation, and this situation now was his resolve to stop hurting all those innocent girls. He'd never let this side of himself stick as a permanent image in anyone else's head. But Tamaki, he knew he could trust not to tell anyone. If he could trust anyone to know what he'd been doing, and not leave his life for it, it was Tamaki. The guy was, maybe, more accepting than was for his own good...

Kyoya was finally starting to regain his senses. His eyes opened once again and he pulled away lightly.

The wound was bare and remained as it was.

Tamaki was left breathing a bit heavier than normal, face tinted red. He had his head turned to the side, away from Kyoya, eyes closed. He was admittedly embarrassed by this entire situation, by the way he was reacting to the closeness between the two of them. He was thankful for the darkness hiding him from full clarity.

Kyoya moved away, sitting up straight. His eyes began to regain their normal visage. When it completely returned, he blinked rapidly. He looked down at Tamaki, who was leaning back head and all on the wall, looking exhausted.

"Tamaki-" He started, placing a hand on his face and turning it to look at him. "Tamaki, are you okay?" He asked, sounding worried, mildly panicked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm... fine." He sighed out unsteadily, laughing at himself shakily. He took in deep breaths.

"What?" He said, raising an eyebrow, not understanding what was funny.

"N-Nothing. Just... it was just very, uh, intense. M-More than I was expecting, is all."

Kyoya let his hand drop, "I'm sorry. I put you through more than you could handle."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Tamaki smiled weakly.

"Yes..." Kyoya looked away, eyes half lidded. He stared for a moment, and then started to shift, swinging one leg over off of Tamaki and standing up. He bent down to get his glasses, placing them back on his face neatly. He held his hand out for Tamaki to take. Tamaki took his hand, Kyoya pulling him up on his feet. Tamaki wobbled a bit, and Kyoya steadied him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright walking?"

"Yeah," He said, nodding once. He straightened his shirt around his form but didn't button it up quite yet. He grabbed up his tie off the floor. Kyoya went to the door and flicked on the lights.

Tamaki was the one to groan a bit and squint at the light instead of Kyoya, who turned back to the blonde- His eyes widened. Tamaki blinked, rubbing his eyes, and caught notice of Kyoya's face.

"What?"

"Oh... Maybe you shouldn't go home just yet..." He blinked, eyes still wide.

Tamaki turned and looked in the mirror. He took a step back in surprise.

He'd gotten very, _very _pale, and there was that gaping wound left on his neck where Kyoya had been... uh, eating. He wondered why he couldn't feel it.

"Jeez..." He whispered, just staring at himself in the mirror, or more specifically, the mark. He touched at it with the tips of his fingers.

"It'll look suspicious if we walk out together this way." Kyoya said. Tamaki's eyes widened, looking his way.

"Y-You don't mean...?"

"It's a possibility in other's minds, considering our friendship."

Tamaki turned red, covering his mouth with one hand and looking away. Now that he thought about it, playing the scene back in his mind, if someone just _heard _them, the situation could be conveyed in a completely different way than what it actually was. They would have to cover up that mark on him, and it could turn out to look like he was hiding something else. Oh, god. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Calm down." Kyoya said, walking across the room, past him. He straightened out his clothing as he went, "Put your clothes back in order."

Tamaki, flustered, set his tie on the counter and worked at buttoning his shirt back up. He fumbled around with the buttons at times, but eventually got done. He put the tie around his neck, but suddenly found it difficult to recall how to tie it up. He fumbled around with it uselessly.

When Kyoya came back, carrying a towel to the spot where they had been on the floor, he stopped when he caught Tamaki struggling with his tie in the mirror. He sighed, setting the towel on the counter and going over to him.

"Stop being so hopeless." He took both sides of the tie in his hands, doing it up quickly and tightening it. Tamaki sighed quietly, hanging his head.

"Sorry. I'm just, really..."

"I know. It's my fault. It's alright if you feel uncomfortable around me..." He finished tying it up, and picked up the towel again, looking back to Tamaki's face. "I needed to nourish myself..." He looked down a bit, "You know what would have happened, otherwise. So... thank you." He said, and turned away to clean up the drops of blood that had gotten on the floor.

Tamaki didn't look back, he stayed the way he was standing, head down slightly. His eyes shifted to the side, to see Kyoya cleaning up. His lips parted a little, and he looked back down at the floor. He took in a breath through his nose and sighed out, leaning back on the counter, facing Kyoya.

"You're welcome."


	2. 2

Why did it always rain whenever he felt just a bit down?

Kyoya sat up in his bed, only in his boxers, his bottom half covered in a thin white bed sheet, looking down at his lap, eyes half-lidded. His glasses sat on his bedside table, and he didn't have to look outside to know and hear the rain falling onto his window, hard. It was dark, and his curtains were pulled, barely letting in any gray morning light. His hands lay flat on the bed beside him and he had a blank look on his face, and slowly, his head turned to the side, looking at the closed curtains. He took a soft breath, and removed the bed sheet from his form, swinging his legs over the bed almost in slow-motion. He walked over and opened the curtains, squinting at the light as it came in, bringing one arm to shield his eyes momentarily before he adjusted. Despite the gloom, it was still a large contrast to the darkness that shrouded the room prior.

Once his eyes adjusted, he let his arm drop to his side once more, looking out for less than a second before turning away and walking across the room again. He made his way to the bathroom connected to his room, opening the door and flipping the light on, as there were no windows for daylight in the bathroom. He went to the sink, turning on cold water, cupping his hands under the water and splashing it in his face abruptly. It woke him up, for sure. He blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyes afterwards and looking in the mirror.

The paleness of his entire for didn't shock him at this point.

Kyoya had always been pale, but recently, he looked sickly pale. Tired. Thinner. Basically, he looked absolutely horrid. And he knew it, he wasn't denying it. Luckily, there was the power of make up. He'd learned how to apply it in the right way, so it wasn't obvious he was wearing it. He didn't care about any notion of 'masculine pride.' There was no way to fix his complexion permanently, so this was the only solution, for now. It would keep people from asking questions.

He went along with his morning routine, showering, brushing his teeth, getting dressed in his Ouran uniform. And last, applying foundation from his face down to his neck where it was no longer obvious how sickly he looked. His hands were hard to distinguish as and paler than usual, so he didn't bother with them. Her combed his hair, fixing it around his face, as always. And there he was. Normal, everyday Kyoya. Nothing unusual. All was the same.

He traveled to school by means of his driver, like every morning. Brought an umbrella, in case it started pouring again, but it had stopped for now. Went into the school building, took his classes, interacted when necessary, and speaking to Tamaki a bit less than usual. Both of them seemed to be avoiding each other, if only a little.

He went to club, as usual. Nothing was different, really. Except for the slightly dense air between Kyoya and Tamaki. But even before Kyoya had revealed himself to Tamaki, and used him, the way he had, things had been different, even though he tried to ignore it. Ever since the first day, when he suddenly found himself staring at girls... like he never had before.

Contrary to common belief, Kyoya was a normal, hormone crazed teenage boy, just like the rest. He just hid it well, unlike some. He was always very reserved. And of course he found the girls in school attractive, but he never did anything about it, he was never romantically interested in any of them. He didn't even have any real friends, let alone girlfriends.

Except for Tamaki. But even he denied himself the luxury of thinking of Tamaki as a true friend. He didn't think he was capable of having friends. Faking it, sure. He was great at that. But Tamaki was the first person he'd let himself get close to in a long while, even though he despised the idiot in more ways than one, at times. The guy was trustworthy, accepting...

But, getting off track. Kyoya did, indeed, catch himself staring at some of the girls in the host club, getting distracted from his work. One of them even caught him in the act and turned away, giggling like mad. He stopped directly after, not having the capacity at that moment to scold himself, but just wonder _why?_He'd never had this problem before. He brushed it off at first, thought it was probably nothing.

But soon he couldn't think of it as nothing anymore. Because, the next time he caught himself staring, he felt something very, very strange rising withing him. It was a sort of longing, almost, and it made him squirm. It wasn't a sexual desire, it felt nothing like that. But he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it _was..._

Nonetheless, soon after, he found himself approaching, and talking to this young lady. She had long, dark brunette, straight hair, and she smelled like the chocolate she had made for Tamaki the night before. He must have caught her name, at some point, but he didn't remember anymore. All he knew was that somehow, he had ended up leading her away, after school... alone, to an empty classroom, behind the teacher's desk, and ended up on the floor with her, her shirt messed, her upper body somewhat exposed. She had been very, extremely nervous, hesitant, thinking whatever was happening, was leading to something other than what it was, and that she shouldn't... and that's when Kyoya bit her. Right at the base of her neck, into her veins, with two razor sharp fangs he didn't know he had until then. But it was all fuzzy, thinking back on it now. He remembered her scream, and at some point, fall unconscious. When he woke up, from whatever odd state he had gone into, he was horrified. She was no longer bleeding, but he remembered how much she had been when he was done, and doing away with it all, with his mouth, while she lay unconscious under him.

He'd taken her to the hospital. That maybe wasn't such a smart idea, but he didn't know what else to do, he was panicked. Once he'd straightened himself, he told them he'd found her this way in his class room when he went back to get a book he'd forgotten. He learned later that she'd gone home safely, yet, ended up being very sickly for the next week. Everyone was talking about it, for only about two days, the time it took for the gossip to cool down and shift to something new and more interesting that had happened.

He tried to stay calm. He was having a panic attack on the inside, though. He opened his mouth in the mirror, looking for what he couldn't believe was really there. He found them, shorter, more withdrawn into his mouth, and not visible when he spoke.

That was two months ago. Since then, he'd counted at least five more girls he had done the same thing to. All of them had been rendered unconscious in the end, and they all went to the hospital, he left them for dead, but they never died, someone always found them. It seemed as if, if they lost consciousness during, they forgot what happened when they woke up.

He had lost all empathy for anyone female he did this to, directly after the process... afterwards, though, when he tried to sleep at night, he couldn't. He stared at the ceiling, thinking of what he'd done, disgusted with himself, unable to tell anybody, these events had made the news, it was on TV, the six girls he'd done this to... There was no way it could be traced back to him, right? Of course there was, stupid, he's thought, his DNA would be all over them. But for some reason, it wasn't, it must not have been because when they tested for it it never showed up, ever, not once. It was a mystery that no one could figure out.

Somehow he managed to compose himself. He managed to act normal in school, and not slip again... But he found that when he went too long without... drinking... he started to break down. His body became weak, he became nearly unable to control himself, and he stole away yet another girl who he caught wandering the halls near the very end of the school day.

It was then that he decided, enough was enough. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't keep this up, he was a monster, he was acting like and animal, he was absolutely disgusted with himself.

He was more than hesitant when he made the decision to go to Tamaki with this problem... he told Tamaki about the girls, how it had been him doing this. At first Tamaki was confused, and doubting him, thinking he must be joking, but Kyoya wouldn't joke like that... and then he'd been disgusted, which didn't last long when he thought about Kyoya carefully, and how much he really cared for his friend. Was it really something he couldn't help? It wasn't his fault, then... But this was unbelievable. It couldn't be true; it was like something out of a horror story.

Eventually, though, when all was said and done, Tamaki decided to help Kyoya, however he could. He just... hadn't known, at the time, what he'd agreed to. Now, he did. Two days later, going about club activities, he remembered precisely what he's gotten himself into. And he tried, he tried very hard, not to look at Kyoya differently, not to treat him any differently, but he couldn't help himself, it was hard to act normal around a person when you shared such an odd experience with them.

Kyoya had helped Tamaki cover his wound with bandaging, around his neck. It was explained away as a rash, that no one asked about just to be polite and respect Tamaki's privacy. So it had turned out, no one suspected a thing. Well, except maybe the maids, inside Kyoya's mansion. No one had been home at that time except for the help, a few of them overhearing Tamaki's cries, muffled behind two closed doors. Kyoya told them he had been helping Tamaki remove a splinter. Which was, admittedly, a weak excuse, but they seemed... to pretend to believe it. Most of the females turned away stifling giggles, most likely assuming he was lying to cover up... well. You know.

But it was on the third day after, that Tamaki started really thinking carefully about this; if Kyoya didn't drink again, would he go after those innocent girls, again? Furthering the police investigation? They hadn't traced it back to him so far, and could never be able to assume what was really going on, but still- those girls. They ended up sickly, weak, for a long while after it happened. And though Tamaki didn't blame Kyoya for this, he really couldn't let it happen again.

At that realization, he had to stop himself from visibly trembling right where he sat. He remembered the pain, it was... horrid. There was no way to describe it, it was just... and the closeness between the two of them, that had been uncomfortable enough as it was. Everything about that experience had been painful, uncomfortable, and awkward...

But if he was going to stop these events, keep it from happening anymore, he may very well have to let Kyoya do that to him, again.

This time he did shiver.


	3. 3

Kyoya could go somewhere around fourteen days without _it_, as he'd come to refer to whatever this was as, but that was a stretch. After nine days, he found himself trembling at the thought, forcing himself not to look at anyone at all, because it wasn't just girls anymore, it was _everyone. _ Every being around him began to look enticing, for a different reason than anyone might think. Admittedly, even the other hosts. He caught himself _fantasizing _ about doing this to them, and many others. This was getting out of control. And as the days progressed and passed one by one, it got worse. At one point he'd had to excuse himself to the rest room to cool down and breath without making a scene.

He was trying, so hard, to keep himself from breaking, but it was getting harder by the day. He didn't want to put Tamaki through that again. And he'd never done that to the same person twice, who knew what could happen? But if he kept this up, he was bound to go after someone, and by force, for sure.

Kyoya stood in the male's rest room of the school, hands gripping the edges of one of the sinks, leaned over slightly, trying to keep his breathing steady. God, he hoped no one came in right now.

There was still no explanation. Why? Why was this happening to him? What was he becoming? Alright, he wasn't that oblivious. He knew what a vampire was but he didn't even let his mind go there, not for a second. Than was absolutely ridiculous, those were mythical creatures. And, besides. He could still sleep. He had to stay on a normal diet, to keep himself going. For a while. After that while was up, normal food didn't sustain him anymore. So, what was wrong with him? What was this wild, cannibalistic urge to _eat _ other people? Because that's basically what he was doing. He soon realized it wasn't just the blood he was after, though that was definitely a part of it. It was the vulgar act that he..._  
_

His thoughts were cut off when he heard the door open. Immediately his heart started pounding and he got sudden shock through his system which he knew to be adrenaline, his fight or flight reaction forcing him to look up. His eyes were wide when he saw who it was. Tamaki stood in the doorway, looking at him with a concerned look that made his shoulders relax only a bit. He stood up straight, looking away and swallowing, composing himself a bit because it was only now he realized he was sweating, and if he kept it up his foundation would start messing right on his skin.

"You... uh, you didn't come back, so I..." Tamaki started hesitantly, but didn't have much time to speak when Kyoya shook his head, putting a hand up to stop him.

"Yes. Thank you. I'm fine." He said, not looking at Tamaki as he made his way passed him, to the door. Before he could get even two feet in proximity to Tamaki, though, he stopped in his tracks, almost stepping back. He could _hear _ Tamaki's pulse. It was loud in his ears as if it was his own. But he knew it couldn't be his own, because his own heart was beating irregularly and his breathing was slightly ragged, while Tamaki was at least somewhat calm. It forced him to finally look up at the blonde, and when he did, he was met with those same, worried eyes. He looked hesitant to say anything, and honestly, Kyoya was glad he didn't. Because right now, all he wanted to do was... he couldn't even bring himself to form the words in his mind, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Could he get through even the rest of club activities this way? He seriously doubted it.

"...Kyoya... are... are you okay?" He hesitated again. Kyoya realized he was looking at the floor again, and when he looked up, it finally dawned on him that the look on Tamaki's face had changed from worry, to fear... _oh, god, no._ His spirit immediately broke at that realization. He should have known this would happen, he did know, he'd known ever since he'd made that decision, but now it was coming into effect, and Tamaki _knew _ what was wrong, but couldn't bring himself to assume that, because he didn't want to believe his _friend _was a monster. _Ha. Monster._ He mentally slapped himself across the face.

"U-Uh..."

_Stop stuttering._

"Yes, I'm..."

_Get a grip._

"Mmh..."

_What are you doing?_

Kyoya found himself unable to speak, so he gave up, and stood as straight as he possibly could, shoving his way past Tamaki and out the door. He was only a few meters down the hall when he fell to one knee on the ground, panting. God damn it.

_Sixteen days._

Tamaki came out of the bathroom, and when he spotted him, he ran towards him, kneeling in front of Kyoya. The halls were fairly empty at this time.

"Kyoya! What's wrong?" He asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. Kyoya didn't answer, he just held a hand over his eyes and forehead, breathing heavily. Tamaki looked extremely worried, and he shook his head, breathing, "Come on, you're going to the nurse." He helped Kyoya to his feet, and noticed, all the way to the nurse, Kyoya wouldn't look at him, and was intently focusing on the walls, and the floor, and anything but Tamaki himself.

Something was terribly wrong here. He just didn't have the heart to assess what he knew it must be.

* * *

The nurse couldn't find anything really wrong with Kyoya, she said it seemed like he was having an anxiety attack. Which he probably was, added onto everything else that was wrong with him right then. So she sent him home, allowing Tamaki to be excused with him when he requested to look after his friend.

They were driven home by one of Tamaki's drivers, to Tamaki's house; Kyoya had requested to go there, because he knew his father was home, and he didn't want to have to explain this away to him. Tamaki's house, however, was usually empty during the day, save for the maids. And he had no problem letting Kyoya come over.

Well, he wouldn't usually have any problem with letting Kyoya come over. He tried to act like this was _usually_, but found that increasingly difficult as he helped Kyoya down the hall, to one of the main bathrooms, passed the maids, who gave Kyoya sympathetic looks, all the while feeling Kyoya's trembling form as he steadied him with both hands while they walked. Kyoya looked like hell, he wasn't going to lie. But he also wasn't going to say that out loud.

He had a pretty good guess as to what was wrong with Kyoya, from everything he'd witnessed, and was explained to about. He had a very good idea. But he never expected it to be this extreme. Kyoya truly did look like he was on the edge of a mental and physical break. And it was odd to see him this way in contrast to his usual view on Kyoya... He breathed deep and tried to stop thinking. No. He wasn't afraid of Kyoya. Kyoya was his friend, his best friend, he'd never hurt him. That is... not with hurting him, being his actual intent...

When they finally got to the bathroom, Tamaki flipped the light on and deposited Kyoya against the counter in the large rest room, first locking the door before going over to the sink, just in case. He turned on the cold water, grabbing a wash cloth and rinsing it. He figured it would do Kyoya good, in his, uh, current condition. He fully intended to let Kyoya repeat the process from before, if it was necessary, but... To put it bluntly, he really, really hoped it didn't come to tha-

"Ah-!" Tamaki's shoulders raised and his body stiffened, feeling Kyoya dangerously close to him, behind him, putting a cold hand against the back of his neck and pushing his hair away from his skin, leaning in and breathing on him. He hadn't noticed Kyoya move as he was thinking, and now he regretted it. His eyes were wide and he went deathly still, hesitating to even look.

"K-Kyoya, uh..." He stuttered, trying to breath steadily. Kyoya was making him nervous in more than one way. And that fact just made his nerves act up even further. He gripped the counter with both his hands, not sure whether to turn around, or try to move away, make him stop, let him do what he had to...

A shock ran through his system when he felt what could only be Kyoya's tongue on the back of his neck, _licking _him. Oh, god. Why. This was, to say the least, not a position he had ever imagined being in, ever, with Kyoya, under any circumstances, ever. Ever. Oh, god, what was he doing now? Tamaki tried to think, how to make him stop? Should he make him stop? Wasn't this something he needed? ...But was all _this _ really necessary? _Really_?

But it seemed he had no choice in the matter when he suddenly felt hands on his shoulders, forcing him to turn around, tugging him away from the counter and harshly pushing him against a wall. He audibly gasped at the slight feeling of air being knocked out of him. Kyoya had been sweating when they got here, so he'd already, early on, helped him out of his uniform jacked. Kyoya himself had loosened his own tie, and now, he was seemingly trying to lessen the amount of clothing Tamaki was wearing.

Tamaki, admittedly a bit panicked now from all the sudden movement and closeness, put his hands on Kyoya chest and pushed him back by force, not knocking him over, just enough for him to move away. He tried to keep his voice from quivering when he spoke now,

"Kyoya, calm down," He said, sounding at least semi confident, "I... let me help." He said, a pang of something in his voice that almost sounded like defeat, though he couldn't figure why. Kyoya's eyes were suddenly wide and he was panting, looking a mess, standing distraught only a bit away from Tamaki now, who straightened himself before removing his uniform jacket, and undoing his tie, setting both aside on the counter. He unbuttoned his shirt with hands that he tried to keep from shaking, and finally took that off all the way, so now he was bare chested. He cleared his throat and avoided Kyoya's eyes, looking more at his nose instead, "Go-" He started. but found his voice cracking, so swallowed and continued, "Go ahead." He said.

Of course he was afraid.

It didn't take long for Kyoya to respond, because before Tamaki knew it, he was flush against him, and there were arms wrapped around his waist, lips at his neck. Tamaki found himself holding his breath, lifting his head and exposing his neck further. He finally allowed himself to breath, remembering what Kyoya had told him last time he'd done this. It was better to stay calm, right? He was doing a pretty shitty job of that, but he would try. He breathed deep in, closing his eyes and breathing out, now realizing the feeling of Kyoya sucking his neck. He swallowed, and he was leaning so far back into the wall, he slid down, intentionally slowly, and Kyoya came down with him, kneeling between his legs on the bathroom floor. It wasn't as dark as last time, and he was thankful for locked doors. He tilted his head back, leaning it against the wall, and waiting for what he knew was coming.

Moments after that thought crossed his mind, he felt the razors penetrate his skin harshly, without warning.

"_HN-_" He gasped and sucked in a sharp breath, his muscles tightening. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, forcing himself not to make any sound. He brought barely steadied hands up and gripped at the sides of Kyoya's arms, breathing in and out deeply, trying to keep it slow, but admittedly not doing a very good job.

"Mh..." He grunted, his brow furrowing as her turned his head to the side slightly. His heart was either beating so quickly that he couldn't feel it, or it had stopped completely. But he kept his mouth shut tight. This time he realized Kyoya hadn't taken much care before hand in helping Tamaki relax, but he couldn't think about, and right now he didn't even care. His grip on Kyoya tightened, his nails probably digging into his skin.

Things picked up very quickly, and he wasn't used to this at all. The very short amount of time it took from Kyoya biting down to Tamaki completely going into a state of what almost felt like seizing was shocking. Why did it have such a dramatic effect on his body? All that was really happening here were two small, but very sharp teeth sinking into his neck, and an outpouring of his blood which Kyoya quickly did away with, only a few drops here and there escaping his lips... Well, yes that did sound horrible when you put it like that, but...

_God_, what had he gotten himself into?

After only about a minute, Tamaki's breathing started to slow, but not in calm. Even behind his eyelids, he could see his vision going splotchy. Either the pain had suddenly gotten extremely more tolerable, or something was terribly wrong here. His body started to relax and his hands dropped from Kyoya's arms, falling to the floor beside him, his brow uncrinkling. His lips parted and he breathed through his mouth, taking in long, slow, deep breaths. His head leaned back on the wall, to the side.

"Nnh.." He made a soft, barely audible sound, beginning to feel very tired. He didn't think he could stay awake much longer...

Just as that thought passed through him, He felt the razors pulling out, and being replaced by the now familiar feeling of Kyoya's lips sucking at the wound he's left. It was soothing against the burning sting that had been left behind. But Tamaki was virtually unaware of anything that was happening after that point, until he heard Kyoya's voice finally cut through the hazy silence.

"...aki. Tamaki, can you hear me?" His friend's voice got louder and he realized he must not have been paying very close attention because when when he opened his eyes he realized that both Kyoya's hands were on either side of his face, and his eyes were wide, staring back at him.

Kyoya looked worried- panicked, even. It took a while for Tamaki to process, but finally he started to wake up a bit from the slight daze he had gone into and blinked, swallowing and opening his eyes wider. He cleared his throat, trying to find his voice,

"Y-Yeah, I can hear." He finally got out, attempting to sit up straight against the wall as he felt Kyoya's hands move away from him. But he found himself incredibly weak, and stopped, groaning slightly.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, I didn't... Christ..." He heard Kyoya muttering quietly, and looked up to see the dark haired male with one hand over his eyes and forehead, leaning over slightly, facing the floor as he kneeled on the ground. Tamaki's vision was just a bit blurry, but he caught the way edges of his mouth here and there were faintly tinted a dark red. For a moment, he thought he saw something running down Kyoya's cheek, but before he could look closer, his eyes fell shut without his permission.


	4. 4

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the bathroom floor. But apparently, that hadn't been the case.

Tamaki had been intentionally prevented from losing consciousness by Kyoya himself. Now, he was lying in his own bed, and without opening his eyes knew that there were pillows behind his back as he sat leaned against his headboard, slouched, and there were no shoes on his feet- also, no shirt on his back.

When he finally did become at least semi aware of his surroundings and open his eyes, he was greeted by the very familiar sight of his own bedroom in front of him. He stared for a moment at nothing, until he blinked, brow furrowing a bit. He grunted softly, moving his arms and attempting to sit up straight. He accomplished at least that, but not without a bit of disorientation. "Mm..." He made a sound, bringing a hand up to hold his forehead. He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling a bit light headed, dizzy.

It was just then that he saw Kyoya come through his closed bedroom door, carrying some sort of bottle. He came straight to him, nearly shoving the bottle into his hand before turning away again, going into the bathroom connected to his room. Tamaki blinked, staring at him as he walked away. He looked down at the bottle; It was milk.

"...What is this for?" He asked, confused, finding his voice was just a bit raspy. Kyoya responded from across the room, the bathroom door being open.

"You could have anemia, you have almost all the symptoms, drink it. All of it." He said deliberately, coming back out again and looking down at him, very expectantly. Tamaki blinked, looking down at the bottle again. "This... will help?" he asked, and heard Kyoya sigh audibly, responding, "Dairy products will help boost your immune system, and you need protein. It's the only thing I could think of without having to cook." He said, turning again to the bathroom. Tamaki paused for a moment, but decided not to question it anymore. He twisted the cap off and took a large gulp of milk, swallowing and holding it in his lap. When he looked over to Kyoya again, he raised an eyebrow. He was digging through a cabinet.

"What are you doing?" He called. Kyoya didn't look away as he responded,

"Ever since you started talking again the only thing that has come out of your mouth is questions." He stated simply, "Drink your milk."

Tamaki stared in that direction for a moment before blinking, and looking back down at the bottle. He didn't really feel like arguing with Kyoya. He was the doctor, after all. He took another drink of his milk, and then another, downing a little more than half of the contents of the bottle. He didn't dislike milk, but he also didn't go out of his way to drink it all by itself. And for some reason, instead of thinking about his condition and the events that occurred in the past hour, he thought about this.

When Kyoya finally stopped digging and came back, he faced Tamaki, his expression rigid, maybe even a bit agitated. This was Kyoya's normal appearance, though, so Tamaki was used to it as he looked back at him. The one thing that was off the very pale pigmentation of his friend's skin, and darkness just under his eyes. Not only did he look sickly, but he looked exhausted.

"We're going to have to cover that wound again, and hide your discoloring." He stated. Tamaki didn't respond for a moment, but rather just looked at Kyoya for a while. Not before long did he see the irritation growing on his face, "What?" He almost snapped.

Tamaki looked down, and then back up at him, hesitating a little before finally speaking what had been on his mind this whole time. He was sure he knew the answer, but couldn't help but asking anyway. "Kyoya, are you okay?"

That only seemed to make it worse. Kyoya shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh, "I'm fine. What kind of question is that? You're the one lying in bed, barely able to accomplish so much as walking across the floor in a straight line." His words came out, dripping with all the aggravation and only a hint of the exhaustion that was overtaking him. "Worry about yourself for once." He said.

Tamaki's expression softened. Usually he'd be absolutely devastated by such harsh words directed towards him. But right now he felt he, if only a little bit, understood what Kyoya must be feeling right now. He was the sole reason that Tamaki was in the state he was now, looking just as, if not more, sickly as he did. He had lost control, something he knew for a fact Kyoya detested. At least the first time, he'd had the situation more under his own power. Furthermore, he was probably losing sleep over all of what had been happening to him.

So he knew the answer to his question, even if Kyoya lied to him about, lied even to himself about it. He was definitely not okay.

* * *

If Tamaki had expected to have some kind of post-traumatic event heart to heart session, that's way off base from what actually did happen. Kyoya had directly _ordered _ him on what to eat, how often to eat it, and how to apply foundation to his visible skin in just the right way that it was unnoticeable unless you were actually looking for it. He hadn't known Kyoya was actually wearing _make up, _and was even a bit reluctant about doing the same. But he figured it was the logical thing to do. Unless he made an instantaneous recovery and could automatically regain the lovely glow to his skin, this was the only solution. It'd come back, eventually.

After all that was said and done, and Kyoya had helped him cover his wound again, he went home, simple as that. Leaving Tamaki alone to think on all that had just happened.

He did not want to think on all that had just happened.

He sat on his bed, legs crossed, hands on his knees, staring forward. Looking constipated.

_What the hell was going on._

He didn't know what to make of any of this. Did he really just get drained of a considerable amount of his own blood, via _Kyoya's mouth_? Had he really just sat there and endured the most excruciating pain he'd ever experienced, for the second time, _knowing _ what it was going to be like when he went into it?

Was he seriously wearing make up right now?

He covered his face with both hands, falling backwards onto his pillows. Oh, god. Forget the pain and the ridiculously confusing nature of the situation for a moment. He could still feel Kyoya's lips at his neck. He touched the bandaged area lightly with one hand, staring at the ceiling. He could remember clear as day the look in Kyoya's eyes and the way his arms fit around his waist, he'd felt so small then. The feeling of Kyoya's body pushed all the way against him, stuck between him and the wall until they hit the floor. Kyoya had let Tamaki see a very deep, personal side of himself that he didn't want to have, and probably, almost definitely, never wanted anyone to know about, ever. It was undignified, uncontrollable, and downright primal.

When he put it into that context, he couldn't help but let his mind go to something totally different than what it actually was, and he brought both hands to his face again, closing his eyes and willing himself not to turn a darker color at the thought. That was extremely embarrassing to even let cross his mind. If he ever let that slip, he'd probably, definitely, never be able to look at Kyoya again.

So he stopped that line of thought right in it's tracks and redirected it. Homework. Was there homework tonight? He was pretty sure there was homework.

* * *

Kyoya had cleaned himself up at Tamaki's home before he went back to his own. He was completely free of ware or tear... If anyone asked, he'd been studying with Tamaki.

Fortunately, he managed to get by everyone without confrontation and safely retreat to his bedroom; somewhere he'd been spending a lot of time, lately. If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything to him about it. As soon as his door shut behind him, he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his jacket, pulling both off and tossing them aside. He didn't usually allow his room to become even a bit disorderly. But to be quite honest, he really didn't give a shit about what he 'usually' did. Not anymore. Not right now. He unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt, crawling onto his bed and lying down there immediately. Not bothering to wash his face of the make up he was wearing, or take off any other articles of clothing, not even his belt. He simply didn't care. All he wanted to do was sleep. He hadn't slept well in days. Weeks? He couldn't remember.

But that would be different tonight.

If he could get his god damned mind to stop working.

His eyes were shut, but his mind was reeling, playing back the events of the day, of the past weeks. He'd fall asleep eventually, but not without a fight. He sighed. This time it wasn't of exasperation, or irritation. Just raw, physical, mental, emotional exhaustion. He only remembered a few times when he'd felt something similar to this before, but never this extreme.

Should he get help? He'd thought of that before, but the answer was always, no... It was too late for that. His good name would be shattered if anyone knew about this, if it got out, that he had been the one who'd almost killed those girls. If they knew of his odd, unexplainable condition. Not only would he ruin his name, but the rest of his family's... His life would be ruined, his goals would blow up in his face and he'd never accomplish anything without being looked at or thought of differently than he was now.

So consultation of a doctor was out of the question.

He could find other means of, getting what he needed... but when he thought of that, he felt sick to his stomach- pictured himself, drinking the stuff, out of a cup? He squirmed slightly at the image. What he'd already done was bad enough. Besides, as much as he didn't want to admit it, it wasn't just the sustenance he craved. It was the act, itself.

Now, he'd thought on this before. But he usually just stopped himself from thinking that way. Eventually, though, the thought tore through whatever barrier he had built in his mind and forced him to acknowledge it.

When he remembered, looked back specifically on the times he'd drained Tamaki, he had to stop himself from shuddering. And it wasn't from disgust. There was a slight tingling feeling in his chest and abdomen. It felt so strange, he'd never felt anything like it before. All he could make of it was that whenever he thought of the things he'd done and his body reacted that way, it meant he wanted, no doubt, to do it again. And again. And again. He could fight these urges. And like hell, he would. But it was only a matter of time before he couldn't fight any longer. That much had become blatantly obvious.

This was the exact reason why he couldn't ever get any real _sleep._

He groaned, opening his eyes and sitting up. Tired as he was, lying here and letting his mind overflow, over analyze everything, was definitely not getting him anywhere. He couldn't stay still. He _wanted _ to stay still, but his mind told him otherwise. _  
_

Kyoya Ootori sat upright in his bed, staring at his lap. Mind reeling out of control. Face all covered with women's product, underneath, looking completely drained of life- dead.

He closed his eyes. Brought his hands up and covered his face with them, leaning over on his knees. He choked a bit on the lump rising in his throat, but he swallowed it. No. He wouldn't let himself break that easily. Not again. Right now, he physically, hunger wise, felt satisfied. And he had a grip on that, for now. But it would happen again... It would... How could he do that to Tamaki again... He couldn't...

His brain never did stop working, that night. He lied awake for almost three hours before his body finally gave out on him completely and he fell into what couldn't exactly be called sleep, more like he'd just blacked out.


	5. 5

Things were a bit different from day to day, if they hadn't been already.

Tamaki found as he sat and tried to focus on his homework, he almost fell asleep. But he'd taken an accidental nap for four hours earlier in the day, after school. And he'd gotten a full night's rest the night before. So there shouldn't be any reason to fall asleep now. His solution for that was just to drink a large glass of water. Which didn't do much, but helped him focus a bit more. And then he got random spurts of dizziness, here and there. Suddenly he'd just have to put his hands on the table to keep himself from falling forward or out of his chair. Other times, he had to take in a lot more air than usual. And altogether, he just... didn't feel well. He applied the make up as he was told to, but was always a bit taken aback by the paleness of his once gorgeous complexion. The first time Kyoya had drunken from him, he felt fine, save for being very pale afterwards. That went away within a little more than a day, though, and he didn't have any of these symptoms afterwards.

But there was no question of what this was all resulting from. He tried is best not to blame Kyoya for anything, though- He couldn't help himself, could he? Tamaki wanted with everything he had to help Kyoya, to keep him at his best when he was low. He'd never really had to do that before, because outwardly, Kyoya never did truly show what he was feeling inside. Now that he was opening up to Tamaki a lot more than he'd ever, Tamaki suddenly felt a strong urge to take care of him. But that was just the way he was. Tamaki wanted to help everyone, to make everyone happy. Especially the people closest to him, and he could count Kyoya as one of them.

He didn't want to do it again. He didn't. It felt terrible, it was terrifying, and messy, and... if this was the result, this sickness he felt, every time, would he be able to deal with that? He would heal, of course, eventually. But eventually would never come if this was something that was going to happen again even before a month had passed.

Could he endure that?

* * *

It didn't take long for people to notice, especially the club members, Kyoya and Tamaki's sudden lack of frequent communication during the school day. Tamaki and Kyoya, for the most part, acted just as they always did around school. The only difference was the way that, when the chance came to talk to each other, they simply didn't, or spoke to someone else instead, or did something different. This was more obvious on Kyoya's part, though. He was intentionally avoiding Tamaki. It was understandable, really. He was probably embarrassed. Who wouldn't be, after showing such a side of yourself to anyone, really, even if they were close to you?

The talk of the 'almost-maybe-attempted-murder-maybe-animal-attack ' case died down after a while because there hadn't been another victim of whatever that was in quite some time.

Kyoya felt like himself again. For.. maybe five days. But then he realized that it wasn't going to last, and he was already feeling the hunger rising in him once again. Whenever he even thought those things about someone, anyone, he 'accidentally' stabbed his hand with his pen. Not enough to break skin, but enough to snap himself out of it temporarily. Distracting himself was the easiest way to go about this. Just because it was the easiest way, though, didn't mean it wasn't exceedingly difficult. Nothing was truly easy about this.

Soon enough, more than a week had passed since the last... incident, with Tamaki. And to Kyoya's dismay and utter disgust with himself, Tamaki, specifically, was becoming more immediately attractive to his body, in a way no one else could understand. His mind and body were two completely different cases. It was as if they were two separate entities completely that despised each other to the fullest, but were forced to work together anyway. Both wanted two completely different things. And Mind had a harder time fighting Body than the other way around. Mind always put up one hell of a fight.

But in the end, Body always won.

It became a sort of silent arrangement between the two of them. After last time, Tamaki wasn't so oblivious to the effect this need could have on Kyoya, and he didn't want it to come to that again. He tried to prolong it, so he had at least some time to heal. He found that the wound Kyoya left on him healed up pretty quickly, but it was still tender and left a prominent scar. He couldn't know whether it was permanent or not until he waited a great while for it to fade. But he didn't have a great while.

After a little less than two weeks, Kyoya came to him, after school, looking desperate. He was keeping himself amazingly composed for the time being, Tamaki didn't know how he did it, but compared to last time, he was outwardly pretty calm if you didn't look directly into his eyes, where absolutely nothing was hidden at that point. Tamaki took Kyoya home with him, and locked his bedroom door when they were both inside. There was a couch in Tamaki's room the he decided would be more comfortable for the both of them. Outside of absolutely necessary verbal communication, the two of them really didn't speak much during this process.

And this cycle just kept repeating itself.

Tamaki got progressively worse, physically. He put on a strong facade of well being that was for the most part convincing to everyone but the one person who knew what was going on; the one who was the only reason Tamaki was in such horrible physical shape.

Kyoya wanted to stop. They had repeated this six times and it was putting Tamaki under so much physical stress. It had to be having some effect on other aspects of himself, but he wasn't showing it. Anytime Kyoya brought it up, Tamaki stopped him, told him he was okay. There was absolutely no _way _ he could be okay at this point.

Kyoya had a difficult time arguing with Tamaki. He needed this more than he cared to admit, and no matter how strong the urge was to quit, to find another solution, using Tamaki was more satisfying, more tempting, and his body would not allow him to argue with the logic that he wanted it, needed it, and could not live without it. But how long could Tamaki live _with _ it?

* * *

The first two times had been excruciating. The third had been only slightly more tolerable, the fourth, even more. By the fifth time, Tamaki was extremely shocked to find that it didn't hurt anymore; there was just a dull buzzing feeling.

But by the seventh time, as he sat leaned back against the couch, a shuddering, dazed Kyoya straddling him and doing what he'd done numerous times now, something was about to change.

He had his head leaned back, to give Kyoya access, and his eyes were closed. Even though it didn't hurt anymore, it still got the blood that was being taken away from him pumping, and he had to try and keep his body calm. He was getting better at that. When his own pain wasn't there to distract him from his surroundings so much, he realized that this had a rather intense effect on Kyoya, as well. He was shaking with some odd sort of satisfaction that Tamaki wouldn't ever be able to fully understand, and Tamaki held onto his arms, steadying him. It was always very quiet. He could feel Kyoya's body heat against him, close, while his own was slightly diminished. Kyoya was sitting on his middle, and he had become almost fully accustomed to the feeling of his weight pushing down on him. Usually, this lasted about a minute, sometimes maybe half a minute over that.

This time, about only twenty seconds in, Tamaki's eyes suddenly opened, and he audibly gasped. His shoulders raised and his muscles tightened, his grip on Kyoya tightening a bit as well. His lips parted, staying that way from his sudden intake of air.

Something similar to the sudden shock you get when a burst of adrenaline rushes through you, just happened to Tamaki. Except it wasn't adrenaline. He couldn't exactly explain it. It was centered around his chest, specifically, around his heart. It was cold and warm at the same time, and it kept happening, periodically, about every five seconds.

"Nn-" He made a sound each time it happened, jolting a bit until he started breathing a bit more heavily, and his eyes closed again. His face contorted not in pain, but the exact opposite. His body relaxed into the couch and he leaned his head back even further, occasionally _moaning._

Whatever it was, it felt... wonderful.

Tamaki couldn't think. He didn't have the capacity to contemplate what might be happening to him at the moment, too distracted by the intensity of the feeling. It was as if someone had taken all the extreme pain he had felt the first few times they'd done this and reversed it.

So when Kyoya finally did pull out, he didn't realize until the last burst of whatever was rushing through his system ran it's course and finished.

Kyoya went into some sort of daze whenever he did this. It wasn't that he was completely unaware of his surroundings during that approximate minute, more like he wasn't paying attention, like whatever sounds were coming to his ears were only registering as background noise to something much more important.

He sat up straight now, looking down to Tamaki. He was used to finding an out of breath Tamaki under him when he was finished, but this time he did register the sounds Tamaki had been making, and they were definitely different than anything else he'd heard out of Tamaki as of yet. Plus, he looked more relaxed than other times. Kyoya was well aware of the fact that this wasn't directly putting any physical pain on Tamaki when it happened anymore, as he had updated him on that. And so, naturally, Tamaki was a bit more calm afterwards, despite being somewhat breathless. But this just seemed... different.

Kyoya blinked, looking confused- Tamaki didn't open his eyes or look at him, rather he stayed in place, leaning back and panting quietly through his mouth, his head leaned back against the couch. After a few moment, Kyoya spoke up.

"Tamaki? Are you alright?" He asked.

"...Mh.." Tamaki made a sound, his eyes opening. He blinked rapidly before looking up at Kyoya, finally. "Wha... o-oh, yes, I'm fine." he spoke in a rushed manner, as if he had just been woken up after accidentally falling asleep in the middle of class or caught daydreaming. He swallowed, trying to sit up a bit. Kyoya adjusted, eventually swinging one leg over and standing up, steadying himself. He held his hand out for Tamaki to take, and he did so without words, letting Kyoya help him get his footing, as he was always very weak immediately afterwards.

Tamaki looked down at the floor more, rather than directly at Kyoya. He was just now beginning to be able to think again. Oh, god, had Kyoya heard the sounds he was making? He... really hoped not, it was mortifying just remembering the sounds he had made. Those weren't sounds Kyoya was intended to ever hear. He willed himself not to turn a darker color, clearing his throat and letting Kyoya help him into his own bathroom extension. This had become their normal routine. Kyoya helped Tamaki clean himself up and get his strength back a little bit, still, with a minimal amount of actually speaking.

Tamaki was beginning to feel relieved when Kyoya didn't bring it up, maybe he hadn't noticed. He got back into his shirt, and took a breath. Whatever relief he was feeling crashed into a wall when Kyoya spoke, finally.

"Tamaki... Ah, I don't know how to say this, but... has..." Kyoya didn't usually hesitate when he spoke, but the air between them had recently become thicker, despite the closer physical nature of their relationship, and it was hard not to. "...Um, has anything changed, in what you feel, as I do this...?" He asked, looking questioningly toward Tamaki. Both of them seemed to have a hard time identifying this interaction as anything other than 'this.'

Tamaki's uneasiness rebounded and his shoulders raised a bit. He shouldn't be embarrassed. Why was he? If only he had held his tongue throughout that. He cleared his throat,

"...Yes. Uh," He started, blinking rapidly and rubbing his arm with one hand. "It, uh, feels a lot different, actually. Doesn't hurt, but..." He cleared his throat again.

He was so obviously embarrassed that it was painful to watch. Kyoya suddenly got a more sympathetic look, and stopped him where he was, putting a hand on his shoulder. Kyoya felt bad enough as it was, putting Tamaki through this. He wasn't about to force Tamaki to do anything he didn't want to do, not a thing, he couldn't, not after all he had done to him. So instead, when Tamaki stopped to look up at him as his hand was on his shoulder, he looked him in the eyes.

"Thank you, Tamaki." Tamaki stared back at him without saying anything, the red tint on his face fading away. The two of them shared a look that said many things, but neither of them spoke anything more, and Kyoya let his hand drop back to his side, nodding to Tamaki and heading out, leaving Tamaki alone, again.


	6. 6

Things were quickly spiraling out of control. But they were doing so quietly.

Tamaki was most likely anemic at this point. And he was well aware of that. Taking action to help himself adapt, even though that was impossible, because the human body is not _meant _ to adapt to blood loss, it's meant to heal the effects and stop losing that blood. Tamaki just kept himself from passing out, a lot. He had incredible willpower to be able to do that even when dizziness overtook him and his vision got bright an unfocused and he had to pause and sit down somewhere.

Kyoya begged him to stop. To stop allowing him to do this to him. But when Tamaki didn't even put up a fight, it was near impossible for him to control himself. Tamaki had become irresistible, and as comic as that sounded, considering he was already called that by a lot of people, this was a serious matter, and on a whole different level than that. Kyoya couldn't help himself anymore. It was dangerous. What was he to do if Tamaki did decide he wanted to stop? Tamaki, being the only one on the receiving end of Kyoya's urges for the past few months, had become increasingly more desirable to him over any random being he'd see in the school or on the street. Dare he say, attractive in more than one way? ...No. No, no, he dare not. He shook that from his mind as soon as it entered and stabbed himself in the hand with his pen again, more harshly than he ever had before. He even grunted and got odd looks from a few of his classmates sitting near by.

Tamaki was dealing as best as he possibly could. He had a lot more to think about now, but thinking too much was giving him a headache.

After the dramatic turn the seventh time had taken, Tamaki did indeed have a whole lot to think on. Directly after Kyoya had left him that evening, he had gone to bed, and tried to go to sleep. It was only eight o'clock. But whenever he closed his eyes the memory of the sensation he got for the first time ghosted through him and he visibly shivered. He couldn't replicate that. He had never felt that way before in his life, and he was terribly confused. What in the world could be causing that? How could it go from torturously unbearable, to indescribably pleasant?

The only thing that was clear to him about it was that... well, honestly, he really wouldn't mind feeling that way again. Was he looking forward to doing this again? ...No, he told himself. He wasn't a total moron, contrary to popular belief. Who knows what could happen next time? Plus, despite it feeling damn good, it was no doubt hurting him more than it was doing him any good at all.

The question he never wanted to hear crept up in the back of his mind, and tried to push itself to the front. He didn't have the strength to fight it.

Was he dying? Was this... killing him, slowly?

There was a very, very good chance that that was the case. This type of Anemia, if not treated, and not stopped at it's source, could become deadly.

He closed his eyes tighter, breathing in deep. Deep, deep breathes. _Shhh. _ He tried to quiet his own mind. Sleep. Sleep was better. Do that, instead. And so he did. He rested until morning, only to wake up just as exhausted.

* * *

Tamaki wasn't the only one being changed by this, obviously. Kyoya, to his dismay, couldn't leave his room without putting on a _lot _ of foundation anymore, out of fear some one might notice what was happening. His skin was nearly paper white. And that's only a slight exaggeration. On a daily basis, he hesitated to examine the inside of his own mouth, but he had to check- he had to. Anything could change. Every time he checked, he found the same thing. Two sharp, drawn in fangs in the upper row of his teeth, that you couldn't see unless you looked extremely closely, like he was now. But they had to be bigger than that. He knew they must be. He felt them whenever he bit into Tamaki, or was just about to... They were far larger than this. But this all seemed impossible. How could this be happening to him? He couldn't begin to imagine what this was. Well, he could, but he wasn't about to let his imagination run wild with the idea.

It was one day when he felt slightly more like himself for once, when he was doing homework, that he suddenly flinched and dropped his pen. He covered his mouth, quickly getting up and moving directly to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He opened his mouth, looking close in the mirror.

There they were.

Those suckers (no pun intended) were sticking clear out, and he felt something burning his inner bottom lip. He had to drink a lot of water to get it to go away. It felt like some sort of hot liquid had gotten on him and almost singed the inside of his mouth. He hadn't had time to look at what it could have been. Soon afterwards, they drew themselves in again without him noticing- somewhere between the time he went to the bathroom and the time he started drinking water.

He tried not to think about it, just as much as he tried not to think about anything involving any of this, whenever he could. Things like why Tamaki had been moaning and sighing while he drank from him as if he were...

Right. Don't think about it. Finish your homework.

* * *

Eight, nine, ten. Each time a bit different from the last. Tamaki found the sensation was becoming more intense. And though he never directly told him about it, Kyoya got his meaning. He was just as confused... But they didn't talk about these things. They didn't talk about anything. Everything was, once again, very quiet. That is, when they weren't in the process. Tamaki had a very hard time keeping silent then. He tried his best, for sake of help that might overhear. This time, they really could interpret what they heard as something else entirely. Somehow, Tamaki wasn't breaking. He stayed in one piece, but not without much struggle. And he was doing a very good job considering what this was doing to him...

Until the eleventh time came around.

The both of them had fallen into step with a normal routine. They always did this at Tamaki's home, in his room, on that same couch. The closeness of the position it made them get into was hardly awkward anymore, because they were used to it. That didn't mean it wasn't. Anyone straddling you this way that wasn't in that kind of relationship with you would be...

So after Tamaki led Kyoya into his room, he locked the door, removed his shirt, and motioned Kyoya to follow him there, even though he didn't need to, Kyoya already knew.

But Kyoya's heart was pounding right now. He couldn't figure out why. Well, he knew why- he wanted this badly, after a certain amount of time going without, and the anticipation excited him more than he cared to outwardly reveal. But this time it felt different. He stared at Tamaki's back, and his breathing slowed, and his want seemed to be directing itself to a different part of him. He slowed to a stop in his pace towards the couch. Tamaki noticed he wasn't following anymore, and turned around, looking at him, confused. He didn't say anything at first, and when Kyoya didn't say either anything, he spoke up,

"...Kyoya? Everything alright?" He asked hesitantly, the look Kyoya was giving him was making him nervous. Kyoya jolted as if being abruptly woken up, and blinked. It took him a few moments to find his voice. Even when he did, it was a bit scratchy.

"Yes, fine." He said quickly, walking towards Tamaki and stopping in front of him, silently telling him to continue on. Tamaki nodded, sitting down and waiting for Kyoya. The dark haired male climbed onto him slowly- usually, they avoided looking directly in each other's eyes at this point. So since Kyoya was looking him _directly in the eyes_, he started fidgeting nervously, looking away.

Now they were in their normal position, and Kyoya always started right away. But this time, he lingered. He lingered there on top of Tamaki, looking down at his face and eyeing his body. Tamaki, of course, noticed right away. He cleared his throat, a pink tint creeping up into his face.

Kyoya suddenly recognized the feeling he was getting right now. It hit him and his eyes widened. His chest constricted and he swallowed, ripping his gaze away from Tamaki, too shocked to move. He wanted... He wanted to...

"...Ah.." Kyoya made a sound, abruptly moving off of Tamaki, standing up and stumbling back only a bit before regaining his balance. Tamaki looked very confused. Even a bit, disappointed? Kyoya thought he saw, but didn't have any time to contemplate that, as he felt it again, and it was trying to draw him closer to the other male.

Tamaki stood up, going over to him, "Hey, what's wrong? What happened?" He said, standing directly in front of Kyoya. Kyoya's eyes snapped up to lock on Tamaki's, and he stared, and he couldn't make himself look away. Both his and Tamaki's pulse was pounding in his ears. His pupils dilated, he suddenly felt weak, and there was heat rising in his face. His throat tightened.

"Noth-" He started, but his voice cracked, so he paused to clear his throat and then continued, "Nothing. Sorry, I..." He found it hard to speak without stuttering like an idiot, so he stopped completely, and just shook his head, motioning for Tamaki to sit back down. Tamaki gave him an odd look, but otherwise complied and sat back where he should. Kyoya joined him more carefully, trying not to focus on anything other than his neck. When he did that, he relaxed immensely as he went into that same hazy state of mind again.

Tamaki leaned his head back to give him access, and like clockwork, it all happened again. Tamaki adjusted to Kyoya's somewhat awkward position on him, and held near his shoulders so he didn't fall while Kyoya's own hands rested on his bare chest. It didn't take any time at all for him to feel it again. He breathed in sharply, and let it out slowly, eyes already closed. The combination of the overwhelmingly pleasant sensation filling his chest and spreading to his abdomen and the feeling of being drained of just a little more vitality, was oddly intoxicating. There was even a small hint of a smile on Tamaki's face as he shuddered gently every so often, clenching and loosening his grip on Kyoya. In these moments, he didn't seem to care about his slowly worsening condition anymore.

It seemed to last much longer than a minute. Even when it stopped, there was a faint afterglow that made it hard to move his arms. Or was that just the weakness caused by losing so much blood all at once? Either way, in the moments directly after Kyoya pulled out, he had to take a bit of time to regain his senses and remember his surroundings. It didn't take long.

But it was just enough time for Kyoya to see the the look on Tamaki's face, one he'd seen a few times before by now, which seemed to get more pleasant each time. And that look was just what pushed him over the edge.

He snapped. All reason left his head and he leaned down, both hands going to the place where Tamaki's neck transitioned into shoulders, and then-

Tamaki's eyes shot open. His hear stopped, restarted, and skipped three beats. He didn't have time to breath, and found that breath caught in his throat, unable to escape. Because, all of the sudden, what snapped him out of his daze was not Kyoya's voice telling him to wake up, but lips pressed tightly against his own.

He was in shock. He didn't know what to do. He was trapped under Kyoya, so he couldn't move unless he shoved him off. He was weak at the moment, so that would probably be impossible right now. His eyes just stayed wide open, and he tried to breath, but found it difficult. He couldn't think.

When Kyoya finally did move away from him, he did so slowly. His eyes were closed, and he stayed not inches away from Tamaki's face. He was breathing a bit heavier than usual, through his mouth- both of their mouths were open slightly.

Everything went deathly silent.


	7. 7

**_I'm sorry this took so long to post. But it was hard to write, and so took me a few days. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. _**

* * *

Tamaki's entire form had gone rigid, and was breathing shallowly. He stared at Kyoya with wide, unblinking eyes and didn't move. Didn't speak. You could barely even hear him breathing. It took Kyoya a few moments to recover from his sudden impulse. But when he did, and he opened his eyes to see the look on Tamaki's face, he himself froze up completely.

After the initial shock passed, Kyoya's mind went into overdrive. He panicked. He almost fell off of Tamaki, off the couch. Off the face of the earth. Kyoya was never one to actually outwardly portray those kind of dramatic emotions, but right now, he was finding it hard not to. His face heated incredibly quickly. He had to get off. He had to get out of this position, right now. Oh, God, what had he just done? He wouldn't ever do something like that himself. That wasn't him! How was he going to explain that?!

He wouldn't mind dying right here.

But since that wasn't actually an option, instead, he tried to thaw his hands out and move them away from Tamaki's neck. When he managed that, they quickly went into such tight fists that his nails started digging into his palms- most likely leaving indents. His mouth went dry and his own muscles were straining. He didn't know what to say. The look Tamaki was giving him was unchanging- something of a mix of shock, confusion, and uncertainty.

But if you dove into Tamaki's mind, you would find a whole clusterfuck of a never ending thought process. He had never been kissed that way before- furthermore, not by another male. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever been kissed, period. Not in this kind of way, at least. He was a host. He'd kissed many girls in the past, it was his job. But... this? He wondered how many times the word 'kiss' could show up in one paragraph before it started to sound foreign.

Before that could be explored, he felt Kyoya finally shifting, and a literal weight was lifted from him as he watched Kyoya stumble backwards a slight bit before regaining his balance. He couldn't rip his gaze from Kyoya, but Kyoya was having a hard time looking anywhere on him, let alone in his eyes.

"Ah- I, apologize." He cleared his throat, speaking in a hastened manner, "I just... uh." He stopped short, fiddling with his shirt, as if trying to straighten out, but not doing a very good job. His face was severely flushed and he was doing a terrible job at hiding that. Any words he might be trying to form caught in his throat. He was a stammering, blushing, sweating mess and he didn't know what to do with himself. He brought one hand to his head, more like fist, and held it to his forehead, turning around and pacing for maybe three seconds before he remembered that there was a bathroom a few feet away. Without thinking, he went in that direction, nearly slamming the door behind him after he disappeared inside. He couldn't think about the fact that this was Tamaki's house, not his.

Speaking of Tamaki, he was still in the same spot on the couch, staring at that door, now. His hands lay flat beside him on the couch, and his eyes were still wide open. He finally _blinked,_ and started to regain his ability to think coherent thoughts. He was well aware of what had just happened. And he didn't know what to do with himself, either. How was he supposed to respond to that? What did Kyoya _expect _him to do? But from the looks of things, it seemed as if Kyoya had regretted that decision far too late. And now... he was locked in his bathroom. Great.

"Ah..." Tamaki made a sound, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair. It was only now that he realized his own face was pretty warm. He was afraid to look in the mirror. There was no need for that now, so he had an excuse not to. He took a deep breath, not even surprised to find it a bit shaky. His body was under so much stress right now, and on top of that, there was the matter of the mental wreck he was turning into as of late. And now this...

He looked back up to the door. As bad off as Tamaki was right now, he couldn't imagine how Kyoya must be feeling. It wasn't that he wasn't embarrassed by this entire situation as well, but Kyoya, being the one who initiated the whole of it, must be beyond mortified right now. If Tamaki were to be completely in character, he would probably be freaking out right now. And actually, he was, but more internally than outwardly. He didn't have the strength anymore, to be as dramatic as he used to. What was he going to do? Should he go talk to Kyoya? He didn't know what to say to him. He had to come out, sooner or later. Should he... leave the room, and go clean up by himself in one of the other bathrooms? He could sneak passed the maids. But he didn't do any of that. Instead, he just sat there, staring at the wall. Completely lost on what to do with himself.

Meanwhile, there was a nervous wreck locked behind the bathroom door. Against it, actually. His back was pressed up against the door, and he was crouched down, both of his palms pressed to his forehead as his elbows leaned on his knees. His eyes were closed, again. He was reprimanding himself in his mind. Why was he acting this way? He thought he might even be hyperventilating. This was ridiculous, and he knew he shouldn't be reacting like he had just made a fool of himself in front of a thousand people.

It was only one person.

And this, what he was doing now, was only making him feel even more indignant. It occurred to him that the embarrassment and shock at himself might not be the only thing causing his heart to race and his face to burn. He felt sick to his stomach, a sort of twisting feeling. Something like dread. He wanted to stick his entire head into ice water. It would help, a lot, he thought. But his knees were weak and his jaw was clenching and...

_Augh._

He sighed out, long and slow, the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was a mess... His life was a mess. This was all he could ever think about anymore. It was as if the life he had led prior to all this, had ceased to exist. His body refused to care about anything else but satisfying this hunger, and his mind had no control anymore. He was killing Tamaki, his best friend. The future he had laid out for himself seemed to be disintegrating right in front of his eyes. He couldn't imagine going through life feeling this way all the time, and when he wasn't feeling this way, not being able to think about anything else but these feelings and urges, and trying to control them, but failing every time. Could he get help? Would whoever he went to, understand? Was there even any explanation for this? There had to be. There _had _ to be. There had to be a reason he was losing his pigmentation, a reason why he suddenly had the most powerful urge he'd ever felt to just... suck another being of all his vitality until there was nothing left. Would this stop? Ever? His brow furrowed. There was no such thing as peace inside his mind anymore. His thoughts didn't stop, not even when he fell asleep. He slid down the door all the way now, until he was sitting on the floor. He had to pull himself together.

Not long after he sat, he heard and felt a soft knock on the door, followed by the muffled sound of a familiar voice. His eyes opened and he kept them fixed on the floor.

"Kyoya? Are you okay in there?" The voice said.

He closed his eyes again, and swallowed. He had to face him sooner or later. So with shaky hands, he stood and didn't turn to the door-

"Yes-" He breathed, "Give me... a moment." He said, and didn't wait for an answer before going to the sink and turning the water on cold.

Outside the door was Tamaki, who heard the sink, and didn't say anything more. Honestly, he was more worried about his friend than anything. He should be worried about him_self,_ but... Well, you know Tamaki. He let his hand drop back to his side after knocking and took a few steps away, but stopped himself from pacing, like he was about to. He glanced over at his shirt, discarded on a chair nearby, and brought one hand up to lightly touch at the wound he knew must be at his neck, but couldn't actually feel, for some reason. He touched it lightly, running his fingers over the area, and winced just a bit. He couldn't feel it until he touched it and it hurt, even if it was only a light touch. That spot had been so beaten up at this point that he had to keep it covered- bandaging. It drew attention, but it would draw even more if he didn't cover it up. He explained it away, again, as some kind of odd rash he'd been getting. It was a weak excuse. He really didn't know what else to say about it, though. Not like he could tell the truth. A lot of the girls, even the other hosts, had been showing concern for him. Not really about the 'rash,' though. His entire _personality _ seemed to be toned down a few notches. Not as loud. Not as actively moving around, or as many crazy ideas for cosplay. Or screaming them at Kyoya. Or speaking to Kyoya, at all. This was very odd to everyone watching. Some of the girls had even been whispering among themselves, ideas on what might be going on. Were they fighting? They never said anything about it directly to Tamaki or Kyoya, but it was drawing more attention than the two of them liked.

After thinking for a few moments, Tamaki moved to the chair, grabbing up his shirt and slipping it over his head, and getting his arms into the half-sleeves. He was calming down considerably. But he was still lightheaded, and the weakness he felt wasn't going away any time soon. He sat down in mentioned chair, holding onto one of the arms with one hand as he did. He didn't know what he was going to say to Kyoya... and he shouldn't be so relaxed about this. Well, he should, actually, that was the more logical approach to this. But it was uncharacteristic of him.

Back in the bathroom, there was a now shirtless Kyoya, staring down at a sink. Drain plugged. Full of water. His glasses were already discarded, sitting on Tamaki's desk back in the bedroom.

Here goes.

With one movement, he dunked his face, and then his entire head into the water. The freezing water woke him up and snapped him out of the haze that was clouding his mind. He pulled his head out from under the water, sucking in a sharp breath with his eyes wide open, and blinking rapidly, swallowing and rubbing his eyes then with one hand. That did... indeed... help...

He brought now both hands up, pushing his hair back and clearing his throat. He blindly grabbed a towel hanging on a wall handle nearby and dried his face, then his hair, rubbing it until it was only a bit damp. And messy. Now, he was wide awake, and no longer feeling like his head was about to set on fire. He dried himself all off, and grabbed up his shirt again, putting it on and straightening it out. He looked over to the door, dreading going out there. God... what was he going to say? How was he going to explain to Tamaki, that he'd just... kind of... had a sudden... well, to be honest, he didn't even know what that had been. It was so fuzzy now, and it had only been maybe twenty minutes ago. Impulse? Yes. But what could have caused that? Even if he _was _ attracted to Tamaki, in that kind of way, (which her furiously denied) he would never do something like that on impulse and make it blatantly obvious. He never acted on impulses, he controlled them, whenever they did come about. Well... he used to, anyway. But he didn't have much control over that anymore, he found. So, what was this? Could this cursed desire be turning into more than just blood lust? Was it becoming sexual? There was a lot of evidence of that, judging from the feelings he remembered having right before he'd... fed from Tamaki, today. He winced at that. _Fed._ Was that what he was going to start calling it? It sounded horrible.

He forced himself to stop thinking so much. If he kept on this way, he was sure he'd never get out of here. He took a deep breath and went over to the door, pausing for a short moment before opening it and stepping out, intentionally taking care at making sure the door behind him shut securely, probably just stalling. He spotted Tamaki sitting, even a bit slouched in a chair nearby, his head leaning in his hand and his eyes closed. He looked exhausted. But he opened his eyes when he realized Kyoya was approaching him. He sat up straighter, looking up to him, and trying not to really show any kind of expression on his face. Anything he could express right now was sure to be awkward, and he really didn't want to make this harder than it had to be. He noticed Kyoya's dampened hair, but didn't say anything.

Kyoya stopped only a few feet away from him, standing with his hands at his side- but then, not being able to keep them still, and brought them together, playing with his fingers. He didn't remember ever feeling this way before, so nervous, and hesitant, when he was usually so straight forward. He'd never been in this kind of situation before. Who had? Well, maybe something similar, but certainly not... this specific. His mind was going places it shouldn't, distracting him, and he realized he was staring at his hands. He looked back to Tamaki right when he noticed, and his brow furrowed just a bit- he cleared his throat. This was becoming tedious. He forced his throat to stop tightening and spoke, willing his voice not to crack.

"I- Mm." It didn't work. It cracked anyways. He cleared his throat, again, and continued, "How are you doing?" He said, avoiding the subject. Hey... maybe he could evade it all together, and it would just go away. But it wouldn't go away, even if they didn't talk about it now, it was sure to come up at some point... They may finally be forced to talk about this whole thing instead of keeping mostly silent about it.

Tamaki blinked, "Oh- I'm alright. Just kind of tired, is all." He replied shortly, and a dense silence filled the space between them for a few moments afterwards, before Kyoya nodded, and spoke again. "Ah, good." Not that it was good. Tamaki was putting it lightly, and he knew that he was lying, he wasn't at all okay. "Sorry for leaving you alone so abruptly, like that."

More silence. This was extremely uncomfortable. This would be physically painful to witness. Good thing there was no one watching.

"It's alright. I was just hoping you were alright." Said Tamaki, genuinely. "...Are you alright?" He followed up with, raising and eyebrow a bit. Kyoya looked away, blinking. This idiot... he was the one practically dying, and he was asking if _he _was okay? ...He shook that line of thought. It was automatic to think that way, for him, but he knew he shouldn't be surprised. Tamaki was always one to put others before himself. But the more pressing matter here, was that he really didn't know how to respond to that question. Was he alright? Doubtful. But what kind of answer was that? To just say, 'No, I'm not alright, I'm a wreck.' That would most likely lead to a conversation he didn't want to have, that was also likely to lead to the subject of his little surprise kiss attack. He, again, smacked himself across the face mentally for wording it that way.

"I'm fine." He said, instead, deciding it was easier just to lie, even though Tamaki would probably see through it. He really just wanted to get out of here, and go home. Get out of this uncomfortable situation as soon as possible, because if he were honest with himself right now, he felt extremely vulnerable, and that wasn't something he was used to feeling- avoided, at all costs, most of the time. He had never let someone get this close before and it scared him. He didn't want to be forced to _talk _ about what he was feeling right now. For more than one reason.

"That's good." Tamaki replied simply. Short formalities. Quick responses. How long would this go on?

Kyoya thought of something, "...Oh. Do you have a hair dryer, Tamaki? I don't think it... would be wise, to walk out this way." He said, cursing himself silently for hesitating. He couldn't speak normally anymore for the most part, when he spoke to Tamaki. Especially not now.

"Ah, yeah. It's in the mirror cabinet, in my bathroom." He said. He paused, and then gave Kyoya an odd look, "...Why is your hair all wet?" He braved asking, breaking the line of formalities and attempting to speak to him normally again.

Kyoya shifted his weight from one foot to the other and scratched at the back of his neck lightly. "Oh... I, uh, was washing my face, and..." No, that wouldn't get his hair all wet. He waited another moment, and then sighed in defeat, giving up on making excuses. "I dunked my head in water." He confessed, rubbing both his eyes with one hand and turning around to go back to the bathroom, not waiting for a reaction. He was just done with this, he wanted to go home.

Tamaki opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Oh. He blinked, but didn't stop Kyoya from heading back into the bathroom to dry his hair. He could guess at why Kyoya would do such a thing. The image in his mind of Kyoya doing that actually almost made him laugh. But he didn't, remembering the kind of situation they were in, now. He really wished it weren't so awkward. Was this ever going to be addressed specifically, or were they just going to keep avoiding the subject? Tamaki, quite honestly, really wanted to know the reasoning behind Kyoya's actions. Was Kyoya... uh, well, attracted to him, in that way...? His shoulders raised and he got an odd look on his face at that thought. It wasn't that... he didn't _like _ Kyoya. Kyoya was a very handsome individual, it was one of the reasons he was in the Host Club, in the first place. But... he was also, male... and a really good friend... and Tamaki didn't actually ever have to think about his sexuality until now...

He shrunk in his seat. That was an uncomfortable topic to think on, and he'd really rather not consider the nature of his relationship with Kyoya _while Kyoya was right there. _He shrunk a little more. Oh, please let this day end quickly.

A few minutes passed of the sound of the dryer in the bathroom, and he watched Kyoya dry his hair through the open bathroom door, trying not to stare, but unable to help himself. It was hard to look anywhere else, what with everything that was on his mind. So he watched Kyoya finish, and put everything away, and straighten himself out a bit more before emerging from the bathroom once more. He looked away as not to make it obvious he was watching him that whole time.

Kyoya stopped in front of the sitting Tamaki again, "Will you be alright, with patching yourself up on your own, again?" He asked, as Kyoya sometimes stuck around to help Tamaki out with that. But Tamaki nodded, and indicated that he'd be fine on his own.

"Alright, then..." Kyoya said, glancing at his bedroom door, and then picking up his glasses, placing them back on his face. "...I'll be going, now." He said.

"Right. See you at school." Tamaki replied, again, shortly. Kyoya nodded, heading out the door. Tamaki waited until he couldn't hear his footsteps anymore and then-

He visibly deflated. Slumped in his chair. Brought his hands up, covering his face and groaning loudly.

This was so... stupid.


	8. 8

School.

Kyoya had never dreaded it before as much as he did now. It was a pain. He couldn't go there without feeling awkward around Tamaki, even more so now, or being irritated by all the abnormality of his daily routine. It was getting harder to talk to people, or do business, or manage the club, all because of his restless mind and his growing hunger, which made him exceedingly uncomfortable on it's own. And it really wasn't helping that the other club members were getting suspicious. The twins started to actually attempt to talk about it- They asked Haruhi, actually, for some reason thinking she might know what was going on. Maybe it was because they thought she was closer to Tamaki than most of them were, or that Tamaki might be opening up to her a bit more. Because, come on- everyone knew that Tamaki had a thing for her, even though he may not know it himself. Especially now, when he was so distracted by Kyoya and the odd relationship they now had with each other, that no one knew about.

Haruhi, being laid back as she was, wasn't without concern for him, though- she also noticed. He wasn't as clingy anymore. Everyone was noticing Tamaki more so than Kyoya, because Kyoya was normally withdrawn, most of the time, buried in his work. So it wasn't very apparent how much more withdrawn he was now than other times.

But one person did notice. And of course, that was Haruhi. She paid more attention to these things than the others seemed to. One day, in a small span of time when she didn't have any customers, she went and sat with Kyoya at his usual table in the club room after school, while he typed away who knows what at his laptop. He didn't even look up at her. This was even more disconcerting, because usually he'd at least glance at her when she approached him, if nothing else. So instead, she spoke.

"...Kyoya-senpai?" She said, and Kyoya actually jolted lightly, before looking up to her, blinking. Like he had been lost in thought, even as he typed. After a few short moments, he responded. "Haruhi. Don't you have guests to attend to?" He said in an almost scolding tone, but not quite. He was deflecting. She shifted in her seat a bit,

"Not at the moment, but soon, I'm sure." She said. "I just, wanted to talk to you." She said. Kyoya raised an eyebrow, as if having not a clue as to what she wanted- of course he did, though. She had probably noticed, she was just that kind of person. He was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, "Why for?" He asked.

There was a pause, and Haruhi leaned forward a bit, putting her arms on the table. "Well," She started, "I've just sort of been noticing... You've been kind of distant, lately." She paused, but Kyoya didn't say anything, so she continued. "And you and Tamaki-senpai haven't been speaking..." She glanced to the side a moment, but then looked back to him. "Not... that it's any of my business." She quickly added. She was hesitant to talk to him about this; fearing that she was invading his privacy by doing so.

Another pause. Kyoya stared at her for a little longer than was comfortable and it made her fidget slightly, before he finally spoke. "You're right. It isn't any of your business." He didn't exactly snap, but there was a hint of something Haruhi couldn't quite place in his voice, "You have work to attend to. Get to it." He said, and looked back to his screen, going back to typing without waiting for a reply.

Haruhi felt like she'd been hit with and arrow, right in the chest. Ouch. So he didn't want to talk about it. She guessed she should have expected as much. She sighed gently, looking a bit defeated before standing and walking away from Kyoya. She would be more persistent if it were anyone else. But to be honest, Kyoya was scary when he wasn't at his best, and it was hard to even approach him that way. She didn't want to get on his nerves, because that would most likely make whatever it was bothering him worse, she thought. Someone like Kyoya didn't seem the type to want to openly speak about what was bothering him to just anyone, anywhere. She was right with that assumption. She would try again, another time...

So Kyoya was left alone again. What he was doing now wasn't actually anything of vital importance. In fact, if you looked close at his screen...

Nope. Strictly classified information.

Back out in world of hosting, outside of Kyoya's dimly lit personal bubble, there was Tamaki, doing his job. But today, he was worse than he'd ever been. Physically, he was just drained; literally. He sat on one of the couches, one girl sitting next to him and another on the couch across from him. He had one arm draped over the back of the couch, and his legs were crossed. He smiled as the girl across from him told him about the vacation she was soon to take with her family to France. A lot of times the girls liked to update him on what was going on in their lives, and he would pay real attention to what they said. He tried not to fall asleep, today, as he found himself very tired- he really didn't want to make it look like he was falling asleep from listening to her, because that would be extremely off putting to anyone watching, especially the girl he was talking to.

But Tamaki was determined, and in turn, very strong willed. So he did his job as he always would, not allowing his depleted energy to show. After these few guests, there weren't many left, and most of them were with the other hosts. Which was surprising, but it was late in the day, and mostly, everyone was going home.

After the girls left him, and he saw them off, he let his smile drop, and stopped trying to keep his eyes wide open. He actually closed them, holding a hand over his forehead and going to sit down near the corner of the room, in a chair by a table the never got much use. He didn't want to make it obvious how awful he felt right now, but he found he couldn't help it right now. He just hoped he could prevent making a scene. He felt like he was about to pass out. And though he'd prevented that in the past, today was just... an off day, like all of the others, only worse. He swallowed, leaning his head in his hand and his arm on the side of the chair. If he just sat for a while, and didn't move much, it would go away. Of course, the dizziness would just rebound when he went to stand up... but he couldn't think about that right now.

Fortunately for him, it was about near time everyone went home for the day, and the hosts were seeing the girls off and getting their things together so they were distracted, for the moment, and didn't pay much attention to him. And then there was Kyoya, who had his back turned to the world, while he shut down his laptop and packed it up, along with his other things.

When Tamaki finally felt the dizziness subsiding, he felt relieved for the moment, and opened his eyes to find his vision back to normal. Good. Now he just had to make it home, without fainting... Yeah, _that_ would be easy. He put both hands on the arms of the chair, standing up with surprisingly little struggle, and preparing to head to the table where he'd set his bag, not long ago.

So, that settles it. Tamaki was Superman. That or he was just extremely stubborn. Because somehow he made it home without causing a scene and managing to slip back into his normal facade. Good. He needed to be more persistent on the heavy home remedy health diet he'd put himself on, to keep himself from going into a permanent sleep.

There was time for a brief nap, however, and he let it come onto him when he arrived in his room after school that day. But it was sort of a half sleep, really, drifting in and out between dreaming and consciousness.

What would it feel like to die before your time? What would it feel like to die, knowing that you'd leave devastation, guilt, and permanent mental and emotional scars on at least one person in your wake? What if that person were your best friend? What if that person was the one who was entirely responsible for your death? Oh, but what if they weren't? You would die knowing that you played a very big role in your own death- or at least, knowing it way coming, and letting it happen. Could it be called suicide? But then, neither one of you had ever planned on this untimely death. What if it had been like a nightmare that you had, many nights before, woken up terrified for, but never actually expected would ever meet reality?

What if it did? What would it feel like to die that death, and cease to exist in a world, in a country, in a city, in a school, in a group of friends and a club you started, that all meant so much to you?

...It would feel pretty damn awful, is what it would feel like.

So it was a good thing that death wasn't about to occur anytime soon, or at least not now. What was with all this dramatic poetic ramble going through Tamaki's head? He shook it off. Today was an off day- recovery. Tomorrow, he'd continue it, tomorrow, there was no school. He was going to talk to Kyoya... he would. He dreaded it, but he would do it. It had to be done sooner or later, because they couldn't avoid this forever... and it also couldn't go on forever. Tamaki acknowledged that he was being unrealistic with his expectations and assumptions that if he _really tried hard enough, _ he could keep this up. But, no, he couldn't. At some point all this blood loss was going to get to him- and it was going to break him. It was already doing that, despite his excessive efforts at keeping himself balanced.

He thought it was all from the blood loss. Both of them did. What neither one of them knew was what was really going on here. Kyoya had no clue- well, he had a slight hint, but he couldn't identify that if he didn't know what he was looking for.

Sure, having something bite into you like that and suck out a considerable amount of your blood was sure to hurt, badly, and even get your heart racing, but why would it cause you to seize? It wouldn't. But it did. At first. And why, _why, _would it actually start to feel _pleasant? _ It most definitely would not. But... it did. And there had to be a reason for that. There must be- and there was.

Once, Kyoya had felt the sting of something hot, some type of fluid, seeping out into his lower lip and it hurt, stung badly. He hadn't had time to investigate it before he washed it away. It came from his teeth. The two that he shouldn't have, but did.

Venom.

* * *

The hunger... the physical attraction, the stress that wasn't only physical but mental, and emotional, and completely out of control- He- He couldn't take this!

Kyoya sat on his bathroom floor up against the wall. He was panting and his glasses were discarded on the floor, a few feet away, looking as if they'd been knocked off abruptly. He made sounds that sounded something like whimpering and groaning, out of frustration, and nervousness, and-

His knees were bent and he had both his hands on his head, his fingers lacing through his hair, his eyes wide and blinking fast, occasionally completely closing for a few seconds. He was sweating. He was shaking. It had only been four days. Four days since he last quieted the screaming need her felt, and that would usually last him at very least, a week- but now, he was feeling it, stronger than ever, what he'd felt the second time he'd used Tamaki, only worse. And he was alone, in his bathroom, trying to hide from it. Where was this coming from? Everything had been normal, only ten minutes ago, and now he could barely hear anything aside from his own pulse drumming in his ears, loud and fast. His chest was constricting, and it was _painful _to just sit here, and not do anything about it, or force himself not to go after the maid whose footsteps he could hear passing through the hallway outside the door.

He didn't know what to do. He felt like he was going to explode. He couldn't, no, he refused to harm the staff within his home- refused to harm anyone with the deadly desire he could barely control anymore, but... _oh, God, it was painful not to._ He swallowed heavily, and reached a shaky hand into his pocket to grip his cell phone, eyes wide as he flipped it open, and held it with both hands, trying to keep steady and dial the only number that came to mind. He didn't know what else to do. Tamaki was the only one who knew, who understood, who was willing and who wouldn't draw attention that he could go to for this. He didn't want to do it- he didn't want to hurt Tamaki anymore, he would never forgive himself for this. But what else was he supposed to do?!

He brought the phone up to his ear and listened to it ring, his other hand on the top of his thigh, gripping and twisting at his pant leg tightly, so tightly his knuckles were turning white- whiter than they already were. The ringing continued on at least two more times until he heard it cut off and the familiar voice came through the other end.

"He-" Tamaki was about to greet, but he heard heavy panting on the other end, and his face contorted in worry immediately. He was at home, sitting at his desk, a pen setting inches away from the hand that wasn't holding the phone to his ear. "Kyoya?" He said, turning in his chair, away from the desk. A few short moments passed of more breathing before he heard it stop and transition into something of an unsteady half whisper,

"T-Tamaki, can..." A pause, more breathing, "...can you come over? P-Please..."

Tamaki stood from his chair, "Kyoya, what's wrong?" He said urgently, already heading to the door.

There were a few more seconds of harsh panting and something of a low groan that was barely audible before a voice came through that Tamaki was sure couldn't be Kyoya anymore, in the most vulnerable, trembling tone he'd ever heard out of any male:

"I-I need you..." There was an unsteady exhale after that quiet statement and then the call cut out, and Tamaki was already heading toward the front door of his mansion. He looked severely worried, and he called Kyoya back, but there was no answer.


	9. 9

Kyoya's phone hit the floor with a loud _clack _ that echoed only a bit before there was quiet again, and his breathing was the only thing keeping it from being completely silent. He'd flinched and dropped it when he felt something like a sharp pain in his chest that did go away, but now he was hugging himself and he lowered his head. He didn't want to feel this way anymore... he wanted it to stop, please, _stop, _ don't make him do this! He didn't know who or what he was begging, maybe himself, but he couldn't even think about that now. He thought he might have heard his phone buzzing where it sat on the floor, but he was too distracted to look, let alone pick it up. It didn't take long to get from Tamaki's house to Kyoya's, by car. Was he coming? Was he? Please come. Kyoya was having a hard time feeling any sort of remorse, right now. He was on the edge of losing it and stealing away one of the staff members. But he had just enough of a shred of self-control left that he didn't let himself to that, yet. There was one thing he knew for sure. When Tamaki came through that door, _if_ Tamaki came through that door, (which he was having a lot of doubt of, for some reason) the small bit of self-control he had left would disappear. Not only would he be in the same room, but his scent, his appearance... everything about him was overwhelmingly alluring at this point and Kyoya wasn't even denying it anymore. Not now, at least. He was a mess of confusion and anxiety and want and he couldn't differentiate between sexual attraction and wanting to rip out someone's throat and eat them. Which... was, as you might imagine, very unsettling all on its own, to him and to anyone who'd be on the receiving end.

Tamaki was already at Kyoya's front door. One of the staff answered him, and he had to force the worry that washed his face into a smile instead, and explain to them Kyoya had invited him over. It wasn't any of their business why. So the particular maid that answered just nodded to him and welcomed him inside.

When he was left alone by them, he fast-walked down the hall and to Kyoya's bed room. It didn't take him long to figure that he wasn't there, and so turned away- what was another place Kyoya could go where he wouldn't be disturbed? Well, the bathroom. But which one? He had to find him.

Luckily for him, when he knocked on the door to the first one he found, there was someone listening inside.

"Kyoya? Are you in there?" came the familiar voice Kyoya had been waiting for, muffled outside the door. His eyes widened and he forced himself off the ground, pacing over to the door quickly and grabbing onto the knob- he stopped. He stared at the door, with wide eyes, and he swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment. He had... to compose himself. He had already let Tamaki see something like this, but not nearly this bad... He took a deep breath and opened the door, coming face to face with the source of a lot of his newly found stress that came in many kinds.

Tamaki must have noticed right away, the look in Kyoya's eyes- and his brow crinkled, looking worried and also, knowing. He'd seen that look before, only less intense.

But he didn't have much time to think.

He felt a hand on his wrist pulling him inside abruptly, into the dark bathroom, and the door slammed behind him. He slammed against the door. He heard a click of what must be the door locking, and he couldn't see, it was completely darkened in here, and his eyes had no time to adjust. He could hear Kyoya's heavy breathing, and the heat radiating off of him was shocking. His own eyes widened now. He felt himself holding his breath, subconsciously, and his form went rigid.

Kyoya couldn't compose himself. Will himself as he may, he couldn't do it. He wanted this so badly he couldn't take it anymore. His arms slinked low around Tamaki's waist and he moved in closer, feeling how still the other male had gone. He emitted something of a low growl out of his control, and his face was dangerously close to Tamaki's.

Tamaki felt Kyoya's breath on him and tried to breath himself, but found it difficult. This was very unnerving. He didn't know what to do. There was still the bandaging over his neck and he couldn't get out of this situation even if he tried to force it, because there was Kyoya keeping him in place and even if he could move, his feet stuck to the floor. There was heat rising in his face and he finally swallowed, and managed a barely audible whisper.

"K-Kyoya, ah..." he tried to form a sentence, but in the end only got a one word question out, "Already...?" He asked. Kyoya didn't respond. But his eyes were finally beginning to adjust to the darkness and now he could see Kyoya was looking straight into his eyes and he quickly averted his gaze. Why wasn't he going for his throat...? Was he going... to... His face grew warmer. What if he did? What was he going to do? Stop him? Push him away? His mind was reeling, and he could feel Kyoya's body pressing against his own... He was already weak, this was weakening him even more, for reasons he near forced himself to identify as anything but what the obvious answer was.

"Ah-" He made an unsteady sound, because Kyoya was... kissing, along his jaw. He clenched his teeth, closing his eyes tightly. Don't... think about it. Let it run it's course... Kyoya can't control himself right now...

He soon felt Kyoya's arms tighten around him, and then it did happen- for the second time, in their time together. Tamaki's eyes opened immediately, and he held his breath. He had to have seen this coming. He did see this coming. He was just very unprepared. Kyoya's lips pressed against his own, and this time, he didn't seem to be pulling away any time soon.

What to do? This was going to be extremely uncomfortable as soon as it all ended, just like last time, only worse- and he knew that. But then, if he stopped Kyoya, it would more than likely make him even more embarrassed of his actions... right? Actually, he didn't know what would happen. This time was different from the last time. Last time, Kyoya had already satisfied his hunger... this time, it was very much present, and from what he could tell, it was as if Kyoya had gone a month without it. But it had only been four days... After thinking for a while, albeit clouded by what was happening, he came to the conclusion that no matter what happened now, things were never going to go back to normal between the two of them. So did it really matter what happened here, and now? Was he attracted to Kyoya? That was a question he had asked himself to many times, as of late. And it was forcing him to act more maturely, about things... all of this was. It made him start looking at things differently, and in turn, made him act differently, which was the source of everyone's suspicion. And still, there was no answer to that question. He didn't know whether to deny it harshly or seriously consider it, or think it ridiculous, what kind of person weighs the friendship they have with someone and whether or not to change it when _this _ was what their relationship had turned into?

Soon enough, his mind clouded completely and he couldn't think anymore. As much as he would never admit, being kissed this way, and this closeness... it gave him serious mind fuzzies.

So Tamaki found himself giving in... letting go. He started breathing again, slowly, and his eyes fell half lidded. He started to kiss Kyoya back. And it was deepening- He brought his hands up, holding at the sides of Kyoya's arms, and his eyes closed all the way. This lasted for quite a while. It even went so far as Kyoya pushing his tongue past Tamaki's lips, which made him grunt slightly in surprise, but he gave in and did the same. This was going farther than Tamaki had expected, he'd never done something like this before... and it... was effecting him where he really, really hoped Kyoya didn't notice. Fortunately, he had the advantage that Kyoya was literally already losing himself in it, as well, so most likely couldn't focus on anything but what he was doing at the moment. Tamaki was suddenly finding his resolve to let go of the situation breaking, and started trying to calm himself. Should he stop this, right now? He could take just one more go, couldn't he? Should he?

He shouldn't. But he did. And it was the most fatal decision he'd ever made in his life.

Suddenly, Kyoya turned around, bringing Tamaki with him. He broke their embrace temporarily and pushed Tamaki back against the wall on the other side of the small but open room, not too terribly harshly, though. He helped him get his shirt off, and Tamaki was trying extremely hard to keep reminding himself that the only reason to remove it was for Kyoya to have easier access where he needed. He also tried to ignore how fast his heart was beating and the burning warmth rising in his cheeks and to his ears.

Tamaki's heart was indeed racing, and there were many reasons for that. Even though he had given up on trying to control the situation, he still doubted himself. He had never been in this kind of close, intimate situation with anyone, unless you counted the times he had let Kyoya on top of him, for a purpose that hadn't been intimate until now. Also, because he wasn't sure... what this was going to do to him, as he had thought before. And then, there was the anticipation... he didn't deny anymore, that he thoroughly enjoyed the sensation he got as Kyoya bit into him, along with the dulled sense of dizziness and burning mixed in. Even looked forward it, though he convinced himself on a daily basis that no, he did _not _ look forward to it, absolutely not. Was he becoming a masochist? He asked himself that question a lot lately. In general, he asked himself entirely too many questions that he didn't have answers for.

Once his shirt was off, he didn't have to wait for Kyoya to move in on him again, and they both somehow ended up on the floor, leaning against the wall. Kyoya ripped the bandages away to find that the wound he'd left last time had closed, but the scar was dark, and obvious even in here, where you could barely see a thing.

Kyoya wasn't even there anymore. He had already lost himself in this, and there was no going back now. He tilted Tamaki's head back and started to suck at the scar, which made Tamaki shudder. That spot on his skin was sensitive as it was, but even more tender from all the beating it had gone through in the same spot, every time. He closed his eyes again, waiting for what he knew was coming. He didn't have to wait long. He felt the razors penetrate his skin and he gasped, feeling it come on so quickly. He'd never get used to this odd, but pleasurable sensation.

"Mmh..." He moaned quietly, leaning his head back and breathing in and out heavily, getting lost in the feeling. It made him drowsy, but that couldn't be attributed to the pleasure. Rather, the blood loss. Which was happening, and slowly draining him... of life. He could not endure anymore of his vitality being taken away from him.

If this went on for the entire minute it usually did, Tamaki was going to die.

What would it feel like to die...? Tamaki had always perceived death as a painful thing. But right now, he was more relaxed than he'd ever been, and he felt as if he was slowly drifting off to sleep. And it felt wonderful. Warmth in his chest, sending tingles down his arms and legs... That strange sensation that he had come to love... All his doubts disappeared... he could go to sleep right here, and there'd be nothing left to dread of the near future. The awkwardness, having to speak to Kyoya about everything, having to somehow come to a resolve, because he couldn't take it anymore... All of that.. would disappear.

It had only been forty seconds, but it felt much, much longer. Tamaki's hands were limp on the ground beside him, and the only thing keeping him from being visibly paper white was the cover up he didn't bother to put much of on, this morning. His lips were parted slightly and his eyes closed and you could barely hear his shallow breath... He was so far gone, there was no turning back, now. If it all stopped not, if Kyoya never drank from him again, it wouldn't matter. It was too late.

It happened quietly. Tamaki was almost gone... He could feel himself fading, and for some reason, didn't care. Didn't have the capacity to care, in this moment. But it happened... quietly. Tamaki faded completely, and there was nothing left of him. His breath stopped while Kyoya was still drinking from him. His mind stopped working, and his skin was voided of any body heat he had left. It happened without Kyoya even being aware. The blood that had been pumping through him depleted too far, and stopped flowing entirely.

Twenty seconds later, Kyoya stopped. He moved away after he'd sucked the wound dry and his eyes stayed closed until he entirely regained his senses, feeling stronger, healthier than he had before. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes... what... had just happened? The past hour was very fuzzy in his mind. But he remembered being hungry, and...

He froze. Looked down to Tamaki, who was leaning, limp against the wall, his head hanging down and to the side. Not moving, at all. His eyes widened.

"Tamaki..." He said, at first quietly, putting both hands on his friend's face, turning his head to look at him. But his eyes were closed. He didn't open them. He didn't even flinch.

"Tamaki. Wake up," He said, more loudly this time, moving his hands to his shoulders and shaking him gently. Tamaki's head fell to the side, limp. Kyoya's heart started beating faster. His eyes shifted this way and that over Tamaki's form, and he panicked. He hesitantly took Tamaki's wrist in his hand, feeling for his pulse... and then touched at the side of his neck that wasn't torn up...

And felt nothing.

He took in a sharp breath that caught in his throat, and he almost choked on it. He put one hand on the floor, stumbling backwards, as if pushing away from something terrifying when he couldn't use his feet to stand on. He covered his mouth with one hand, his eyes impossibly wide. He couldn't breath. His jaw clenched too tightly. There was a ringing in his ears that was so loud it drowned out any sound, even the sound of his own heart beat.

He had killed Tamaki.

That fact hit him hard in the chest and knocked the breath he was holding out of him, and he started shaking his head 'no,' beginning to feel himself tremble. No. No. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening, it wasn't.

He forced himself to move again, and literally crawled back over to Tamaki, putting his hands on both sides of his face again and leaning in very close, willing his eyes to open. "Ta... Tamaki, wake up." He half whispered, blinking rapidly, trying to hold back the lump rising in his throat. "You ca..." the word trailed off into a shaky sob that he swallowed quickly and continued, "It's dangerous to fall unconscious, don't," He said more loudly this time, but there was no response. He wouldn't allow himself to believe he was in denial, it wasn't denial, it was reasonable, he had to wake Tamaki up, it was very dangerous for him to fall asleep after this, it was... it... he couldn't... let...

He moved his hands to Tamaki's shoulders, shaking him, "Tamaki, _wake_ _up_." He commanded- still, no response. He gripped tighter, "Tamaki, you're scaring me," His voice quivered severely as he let that slip, as if Tamaki could hear him, "_You hopeless moron, wake up!_" He nearly screamed this time, not caring if anyone else heard him.

No answer, Tamaki did not make a single movement, let out a breath, anything to indicate that he was still there. Because he wasn't.

"Nh..." Kyoya made a sound, his face contorting in a mix of devastation, horror, and so many other things that he couldn't handle all of the emotion building in him, and he broke.

He shrunk. He slowly, unsteadily fell back, sitting on his feet, kneeling, slouched. His hands still on Tamaki's shoulders. Tamaki's... corpse. His hands began to shake, they were gripping him so hard. He screamed, but no sound came out of him. His head was hanging, and he was letting out loud sobs that he couldn't hear because as far as he was concerned he had gone deaf, and there were tears streaming down his face. He abruptly looked back up to Tamaki's _corpse_, his jaw shaking, like he was trying to force out words but they wouldn't come, no matter how hard he tried. He crawled closer, holding Tamaki's face in his hands now, rubbing his thumbs over his cheeks, opening and closing his mouth. He was trying to say something. He just couldn't get it out. He got even closer, closing his eyes tightly now and pressing his forehead against Tamaki's. Willing him to just wake up... wake up... wake up_, please_, wake up.

He couldn't think about things logically- things like, how was he going to cover this? He couldn't have anyone finding a dead Tamaki in his bathroom. It would ruin everything, not only for him, but for his family. He couldn't think of things like how he was going to deal with life without Tamaki, in school, how it would effect others. These things rushing to his mind only made him tremble even more and he couldn't take it, he could only focus on this, right here. His chest was constricting and there was a lump in his throat that no matter how many times he swallowed, kept coming back, and choking him, forcing the tears to build up in his eyes and keep spilling. At least he wasn't numb. But with how he felt right now, he wished he were.

His hand trailed down to Tamaki's bare chest, which was becoming cold to the touch. He fingers spread and curled against it into a tight fist, and he swallowed again.

"D-Don't do this..." He just barely managed to say, it was more like a choked whisper than anything else.

What Kyoya didn't notice was the wound, closing, right there, on his neck. He didn't notice that the scar was disappearing. He didn't notice when it was gone. And he didn't notice Tamaki's paleness fading back into it's natural tone.


	10. 10

Kyoya was an absolute wreck. He'd never let anyone see him this way. Not even Tamaki. Tamaki... who had died... minutes ago, right under him, and was the reason he was a wreck in the first place. After he had violated him, did so many things to him he would have never done if he had been in his right mind. It killed him on the inside just to think that that was Tamaki's last memory of him... He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything. He was in shock, he was beyond devastated, and just couldn't bring himself to let Tamaki go or move away from him or try to remedy the situation. He couldn't bring Tamaki back, but he also couldn't leave him here.

He was such a fool. He was far too proud... how could he have done this? There were other options... there were other ways he could have sated this irrepressible thirst without hurting anyone permanently. But he was just too proud to let himself do that. He didn't want to put that image upon himself, although he would be the only one to see it. He ran from that image, and now he didn't have to face it, but his best friend was dead, because of it. What was he going to do, after this? How was he going to deal with the burden of this hunger that chased him where ever he went, plus the guilt that would forever follow Tamaki's death?

He couldn't live that way, a life like that... wasn't worth living. It was too much trouble, and suffering and just... wasn't worth it... Kyoya inhaled and exhaled unsteadily. He was beginning to have dangerous thoughts that he had never thought would plague him in his lifetime. He tried to stop. He couldn't let himself think that way, because if he kept it up, it would lead to... the end of all his problems. _No, _he stopped himself, _no it won't. _

Deep breaths. Move... Kyoya finally opened his eyes again, only a bit, and they were fixed downward as he held a hand to Tamaki's cold face. He moved his head back away from Tamaki's slowly. Tamaki's head leaned up against his hand. Eyes still closed, face expressionless. He looked like he was sleeping... Kyoya let him lean back against the wall.

Kyoya let go of Tamaki, reminding himself to keep breathing deeply, lest the lump in his throat return and choke him again. He scoot back, and gripped the counter with one hand, standing up on weakened legs, but somehow managing not to fall. He had to force himself to snap out of it, though he still wasn't completely there yet.

His eyes were glassy as he looked down to the lifeless male on the floor, but it was still too dark to see anything clearly. He found himself holding his breath again so he quickly looked away, closing and opening his eyes. He couldn't think... about Tamaki right now. Not as a person. But as a problem. He had to fix this; he had to do something with the... body.

It was as if something sharp had plunged right into his chest and he winced, just the thought made this all more painful. He couldn't do this... but he had to.

So, having to push himself, he went to the door and flipped on the light switch, squinting until his eyes adjusted to the light again. He hesitated to turn around, he wasn't sure he could handle seeing Tamaki in full clarity the way he was now... But he had to, at some point. He couldn't stand here forever. So, again, he forced himself. He had to force most any movement at this point, because all he wanted to do was collapse and never have to do anything at all ever again. He turned around, hesitating immensely to look down at Tamaki, but he finally did.

And he almost jumped out of his skin.

Sitting on the floor was not the lifeless corpse that he had left behind. His complexion was naturally healthier than he'd seen it in weeks, without cover up. But that's not what he noticed first. The first thing his eyes went to was the wound- no, the lack there of. The scar was gone, too. In fact, there were no traces at all that anything had ever happened to him. He just looked like he was asleep without a shirt on.

Kyoya was gripping the counter. He was already so messed up and distraught, and now there was this. He didn't understand. How? But instead of trying to think, he paced over to Tamaki quickly, and kneeled in front of him on the floor, putting two fingers to the place where you'd find a pulse on his neck. Still, nothing. He must have been hoping he would feel something, but he didn't stop there. He lifted Tamaki's face with both his hands, looking at him closely. He leaned in, to see if he could hear or feel him breathing. But he wasn't. What was going on?

He wouldn't allow himself to believe that he had been wishing for a miracle. It was impossible for Tamaki to still be alive after all that had happened. But was it, really? He still didn't know what was happening to himself. It was definitely not natural for a person to suddenly grow fangs and go full on vampire. Okay, maybe not full on. But that still did not explain why he was even the way he was in the first place. He never even had much time to think about that, the hunger, and everything else, was all too distracting. He shouldn't have gone to Tamaki. He regretted it greatly, and at this point, would have preferred just to keep using... well, strangers. He could have used strangers... everywhere he went, that was an option. Why hadn't he done that? He was such an idiot! He scolded himself internally, but he was not getting distracted. He only stared at Tamaki, intently, as if he were waiting for something, anything, to happen. _Something _ must have happened. It was not possible for him to suddenly look so healthy immediately after he died.

Kyoya's eyes traveled over Tamaki's form. He still felt cold. He looked back up at his face. Hesitating greatly, and thinking himself foolish, he said in a voice he hadn't intended to be shaky, but still came out that way, "Tamaki..." He called his name, not knowing what he was expecting.

There was a long bout of silence before anything happened. But the silence didn't go away when something did finally occur.

Without a breath, without a sound, Tamaki's eyes opened. There was no fluttering or dramatics, he didn't even blink. His eyes were just closed, and then they weren't. The first thing visibly noticeable was the color. Instead of the bright violet blue his eyes had been before, they were more of a dull, blue grey, and there was something that just made them seem, well, darker. And he wasn't looking at anything. Yes, his eyes were facing Kyoya, but it was as if he couldn't see him there.

Kyoya was somewhere between relieved, confused, shocked, and terrified. His eyes shifted rapidly over the other male's face, and he waited, for something, anything to happen. But he didn't move. As if he were afraid moving would affect or change anything that might happen...

Kyoya did, however, flinch when suddenly the silence was broken and the former corpse that was Tamaki took in a sharp, sudden breath and his back arched with it, sucking in through his mouth. Kyoya's eyes widened, and he moved his hands away from Tamaki's face, watching him intently, not knowing what to do. He was reanimating, and it was far from anti-climactic. Tamaki blinked rapidly, after he was breathing again, (more like panting) and choked on his own breath, causing him to cough loudly.

Panicked, Kyoya kept watching, hesitating to touch him or make any moves towards him. But he eventually did regain his senses, and he put his hands on the sides of Tamaki's arms, holding him steady- still cold.

"Tamaki- Tamaki, can you hear me?" He said, sounding near breathless. Tamaki was blinking rapidly, looking up. He had stopped coughing, but was still panting, like he had been under water too long and had struggled to come up for air. It wasn't surprising, seeing as he had actually stopped breathing for about five minutes. (Actually it was very surprising all together but you get my meaning.)

It took a few long moments, but Tamaki did come to, and he closed his eyes tight, his brow tensing and untensing before he opened them again. He gulped, and a shaky hand came up to grip at Kyoya's lower arm as he held him. With wide eyes, and muscles straining, he finally looked Kyoya in the eyes. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but it took a few more breaths for him to actually form words.

"W-What happened..." He said breathlessly, his eyes now shifting this way and that, everywhere. It was as if he had been woken from a night terror, and was still in the process of coming to terms with the fact that it had only been a dream.

Kyoya didn't even care anymore how this was possible. He let out a sound of relief, covering his mouth and swallowing to keep himself from crying again. He was far too emotional right now, and he didn't know how to hide it when he was in this state, but he was trying. He closed his eyes tight for a moment, shaking his head and actually laughing quietly. It wasn't clear whether it was from hysteria, or extreme relief at the fact that Tamaki wasn't dead. He looked back up at Tamaki, taking the hand that was on his arm into his own,

"Calm down, breath," He said, and felt Tamaki squeezing his hand, tightly. He looked scared- panicked, even. Kyoya couldn't imagine what might be going through his head, or what he must be feeling, right now, but his only focus was to stabilize Tamaki, figure out what was going on, later. "You're alright," He said, squeezing his hand in return. This was all very odd for Kyoya, forgetting about all the crazy involved, for a moment. Kyoya was not one to comfort, or be supportive at all, really. He wasn't even very big on showing too much emotion, unless it was one of his enraging little smirks that made people want to break his jaw. But for a reason you can probably guess at, he wasn't having a very hard time being unlike his usual self with Tamaki, anymore. He hadn't been his 'usual self' for months now. Faked it, but was much different on the inside, and of course, the only one who saw that in full clarity was Tamaki...

Tamaki closed his eyes, swallowing again, and starting to breathe deeply through his nose, obviously trying to calm himself. When he finally caught his breath again, he looked to Kyoya, blinking, and looking more confused than anything else.

"What..." he started, but was lost on words, "...I... what happened?" He really had no clue. When he woke up, he literally felt like he had been rescued from someone holding his head underwater and drowning him. Like it was taking far too long for him to black out from loss of oxygen, and he never did, but then someone pulled him up again and the rush of air was too much and he was still terrified it was going to happen again. Like a dream... a nightmare, but too real to be one. He was calming down a bit now that he saw he was in a familiar place, with a familiar face, and starting to remember all what had happened before he'd drowned.

Kyoya breathed, "You..." How could he put this? "I thought you'd died, you were flat-line when I checked..." He shook his head, like he was still in disbelief, "You weren't breathing, for almost ten minutes- I don't know what happened," He realized he was speaking just a bit too fast and he paused, continuing more slowly when he resumed, "I'm..." he sighed here, "You scared me, badly. Are you alright? How do you feel?" He asked, looking back down to where there had previously been a wound, but now there wasn't even a scratch, let alone a scar.

"I..." Tamaki was clearly still disoriented, but he was getting a hold on things, "I feel... ah, fine, actually... except... for being kind of winded..." He closed his eyes and leaned his head to the side after that, at last, slowly beginning to breathe normally again. "Tired..." He said.

Kyoya immediately pulled at his hand a bit, "No, you need to stay awake." He didn't know why. It was more of him, being too scared to lose him again.

"Yeah, fine..." Tamaki said, dismissing it. He was far too calm, but that was only because he was suddenly remembering all that had happened prior to this. He knew too well he had been in no shape to take another go at letting Kyoya drink from him. It was all fuzzy, now. Kyoya had probably known as well. Wait... so, he had died, had been _dead_ for at least five minutes, and then just, woke up again, just like that? ...So, that's what it felt like to die. Despite the calm before hand, needless to say, it was fucking terrifying.

Kyoya said he had healed, right...? He suddenly realized he was holding Kyoya's hand. Very tightly, actually. He opened his eyes, trying to sit up straight, and not having much trouble. He pulled his hand away from Kyoya, who let go as well. He took a deep breath, something that he had been doing a lot as of late. "I'm fine." He reassured Kyoya, because he could easily read the look of worry on his face and even though he didn't bring it up, it was quite obvious that Kyoya had been crying. You could tell by how red his eyes were and there were faint tear stains on his cheeks. He couldn't imagine Kyoya, crying. He'd never seen him do that before. Had he really caused Kyoya so much pain? Kyoya didn't say anything for a while. He was looking at Tamaki like he had seen a ghost as he rested for a few moments, because he really did feel pretty tired. He didn't say anything to Kyoya about it, because he didn't want to put him under anymore stress than he had already. He was too forgiving. Kyoya had just killed him, and he was the one trying to be considerate here.

"I'm... so sorry. I shouldn't have called you... You were in no shape to... jeez..." He said quietly.

"It's alright, it wasn't your fault. Come on, I'm still breathing, aren't I?" He said, trying to take some weight off the mood here. It didn't work very well, because Kyoya still looked very regretful as he responded, "You weren't, a few minutes ago..."

There was silence for a few moments. And it gave Tamaki time to think a little more, recall everything that had happened before he stopped breathing. He was playing the scene back in his head, and he deadpanned all of the sudden. Oh, boy. That was exactly what he had been so careless about, and hoping to avoid... now he regretted his decision to let go. Now, he was going to mention it. He had to. He didn't want to hide from everything, anymore, and now that they had gotten all of the dramatics out of the way...

Things were about to get very uncomfortable. And to think, that had almost been avoided. Darn.

"...I hate to bring this up, but..." he paused. Should he, really? "Back there, that was pretty... surprising, what we did." There. He said it. He probably could have worded that better than he had, just now. _  
_

Kyoya knew right away what he was talking about, and he froze up. Oh, right. He had almost forgotten about... that. He brought his hand up, rubbing the back of his neck hesitantly. "...Sorry. I didn't... I don't know anymore, with this. It's... not something I can help." He was being honest. "For some reason... uh... I seem to be... sexually attracted to you when I'm like that..." Wow. _Wow, _ Kyoya. Really? He had just unintentionally revealed something he had planned to forever hide and he immediately deadpanned. Guess it didn't matter anymore, after what he had done. That didn't come out like he had planned it to. Oh, god. Please. Why couldn't he just take it back? There was silence, and he swallowed, avoiding Tamaki's eyes at all costs. "...Wow. Uh, " He didn't know what to say. God, he hated being flustered. No control anymore... where had all the control gone? "I didn't... mean to say..." He cleared his throat, and now had his eyes fixed on the floor while he was still kneeling in front of Tamaki.

Tamaki could see how flustered Kyoya was, and it was honestly painful to watch. He really didn't want to put anything on the guy. Not after all they'd been through. And... well... he had neglected to mention the fact that he had actually contributed to that situation quite a lot. Kyoya probably didn't remember that part, probably blamed himself for it all. He silently decided to not bring that little bit up. Not directly, anyway.

"It's alright," He said, stopping him. "You don't have to apologize." He was was being surprisingly mature about this. Why was he so brave all of the sudden? It was almost like the two of them had switched roles. "I... don't mind. I get that you couldn't really control yourself... to be honest, I was having a pretty hard time controlling myself, as well." He couldn't believe he had actually let that slip, but for some reason didn't do anything about it. Was this what talking about things meant? Finally letting them come into the light, instead of avoiding them constantly? They both needed to start doing that. Unpleasant as it may be, it was necessary. To be quite honest, they really didn't have much of a relationship outside of whatever this was, anymore... and Tamaki missed talking to him. He was still his friend. Even though things wouldn't go back to normal, this was the least they could fix.

Kyoya took a breath, covering his eyes with one hand, looking defeated. He was tired of dancing around everything. It was tedious and just all together not something he wanted to deal with, anymore. Since when was he one to be so immature about things, and Tamaki, to be the adult? They really had switched roles. "Right..." That last statement had caught Kyoya off guard. Not that he was ever on guard. He was a mess. "...Guess it would affect anyone like that... Still, I apologize for all of that. I crossed a lot of boundaries that I didn't mean to..." He said, rubbing down his face with the hand that was over his eyes and finally looking back up to Tamaki.

Tamaki actually smiled lightly. "Forgiven." He said. The two of them looked at each other for a few more moments. After a while, Kyoya cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject,

"But look at you. You look like you did before I ever laid a hand on you." He pointed out. Tamaki blinked, smile turning into a mild look of confusion, looking down at himself as if he could actually see something from this angle. More of an immediate reaction to that statement. "Do I?" He asked.

"You look untouched. Not only is the bite gone, but so is your scar." He said. Tamaki brought a hand up, rubbing at that spot on his neck where there had previously been an open wound. He didn't feel anything- and it wasn't as sensitive anymore. Kyoya got a contemplative look,

"...Tamaki, look at me." He said. Tamaki blinked, looking up.

"What?"

Kyoya leaned his head in just a little bit closer to Tamaki's, examining his eyes. Tamaki just looked confused, but didn't say anything. Finally Kyoya leaned back again,

"Maybe it's just me, but, your eyes... well, they're not the same color, anymore. Not as vibrant as before, I mean..." He trailed off. Oh. Oops. He'd sort of accidentally revealed that he paid close attention... to Tamaki's eyes. Yes, they were hard to miss, but a lot of times, if you're not always looking closely at someone, you don't usually notice the color of their eyes all that much. Tamaki fortunately didn't seem to catch on.

He blinked again. He didn't know what to say, other than, "Really?" He glanced to the side, at where his shirt was skewed on the floor. He shifted a bit, to stand, and Kyoya moved out of the way, standing before him. He watched him get up, making sure he was steady. Tamaki moved over to the large mirror, looking at himself closely, leaning into his own reflection. When he noticed, his eyes widened. "...You're right..." He put a hand to his own face, and then trailed that hand down to his neck, rubbing there slowly. "Wow..." He whispered. It was odd to see himself this way, after all this time of being so pale, added to the fact that his eyes were indeed more of a dull blue than violet, now.

"This is very strange," Kyoya stated the obvious, walking over next to him. "I don't see how you could have survived, or healed so quickly..." He said. Tamaki had one hand on the counter, and he looked over to Kyoya again.

"I don't see how any of this could be happening, Kyoya." Kyoya looked to him, and he continued, "There's something wrong with you... this shouldn't be happening, any of this. Are you sure you can't go see a doctor, or something?" He asked.

Kyoya's brow tensed, "No. If anyone found out about this, they'd surely..." he trailed off, looking down at the counter.

"What?" Tamaki persisted.

"...Nothing. I just can't." He finished, sighing and rubbing his eyes with one hand, again. He was obviously still under a lot of stress from everything.

Tamaki continued on to something else. "Do you think... this has done anything to me?" He wondered out loud. Kyoya looked back up to him, brow still tensed.

"Of course. It almost killed you." He said. Tamaki shook his head, "That's not what I mean. I mean... well, think about it. There has to be a reason it feels... the way it does, when you bite me." He said, not having to explain any further than that, because Kyoya understood, "It hurt like hell the first few times, and then it just... stopped hurting. And then started to feel... well, very far from painful. Why?" He asked.

Kyoya thought for a moment. He was right. There really did have to be some explanation for that. He thought back, remembering the times he'd felt something like a burning fluid inside his mouth, and his teeth coming out from hiding... wait a minute. Could that be...?

"...Maybe... I injected you with something..." He said. Tamaki waited for him to continue. "I never told about it... but I think my teeth release some kind of odd fluid whenever they reveal themselves. It's not under my control... but it happened a few times aside from when I bit you, and it nearly singed my bottom lip." He explained. Tamaki's eyes widened a bit. What if...

"Uh... do you think I'm...?" He had a hard time saying it. Kyoya didn't need him to, though. His eyes widened.

"...No. No, that's impossible. That can't be how it works..." He almost whispered the last sentence. He stared the counter down hard. This was all very confusing. He sighed, leaning into the counter with both hands. "This makes no sense..." He shook his head.

None of this made any sense at all. It was putting them both on edge, a lot, not just now, but before this. Tamaki had pretty much risen from the dead looking good as new, and now there was the question hanging in the air, what if? What if Tamaki ended up just like Kyoya? Neither on of them wanted that to happen. Kyoya still needed to figure out how all of this had ended up happening to him in the first place. At least if Tamaki ended up this way as well, they'd have an idea why.

Things were about to change much faster than they had before.


	11. 11

_**I'm just going to say this now. I am extremely inaccurate in the way I represent Kyoya's home, staff, and the presence or lack there of of his family. (Except maybe for Kyoya's room. I looked into that a bit.) Same goes for Tamaki. But I figure who really even cares about that so I don't bother with it and play it to fit the situation. I hope no one minds. Doubt you do. Also, I apologize for how short this chapter is, the next one will be longer. Please enjoy chapter eleven, though. Thanks.**_

* * *

After Kyoya and Tamaki straightened themselves out, and Tamaki put his shirt back on, they left the bathroom together... Kyoya had actually peeked out the door to check and see if any staff was around before they did. Because... they had been in there together for quite a while. And some of the staff, especially the younger female staff, (which weren't actually many) he knew already had ideas about the two of them floating around in their heads from the things they'd heard the first time and the lame excuse Kyoya had given them when they asked. Really, it was none of their business. But... people were inclined to know things that they really had no business sticking their noses into.

So the two of them avoided any staff seeing them as they came out together, and retreated to Kyoya's room. It was a change from their normal routine. Usually they would part ways immediately afterwards, with something of a very awkward goodbye. And you would expect them to be even more uncomfortable around each other after what had happened- but the whole death thing almost totally cancelled that out. Almost.

And Tamaki wanted to stay. This was Kyoya's house. If it had been the other way around, Kyoya would have left anyway. But when Tamaki asked if he could stick around, he didn't really feel he should decline, after all that had happened. They had a lot to talk about. Not that it was going to be easy... but it was definitely time to stop hiding from all of this. Try to figure something out. Where did they go from here? What was there to do, really? There was no way to fix this, was there?

Kyoya sat with one arm draped over the back of the plain plain white couch near his desk. He was closing his eyes, just breathing. He was trying to think. But that was a bit hard when he could hear Tamaki pacing. He opened his eyes, brow tensing a bit. Tamaki was pacing back and forth across his entire bedroom.

"...Tamaki." He called to him. Tamaki didn't answer, so he said again, louder, "Tamaki."

Tamaki flinched, stopping in his tracks and looking to Kyoya. There was a pause, "What?" He said, blinking.

"What are you doing?" He said, only sounding mildly irritated. To be honest, all he wanted to do was tell Tamaki to go home. Still, he didn't want to give the impression that... huh. What was he trying to avoid giving the impression of? Now that he thought about it, he didn't quite know. He just, for some reason, didn't feel he should send him away like that.

"I..." Tamaki trailed off, but continued not moments later, "I don't know, I'm having a hard time staying still, sorry."

"No, it's fine." He quickly reassured. He immediately got a slightly confused look, as if he hadn't intended those words to come out of his mouth, and not so quickly. What was with him...? Tamaki looked at him for a few moments,

"What's wrong?" He said, catching the look on his face. Kyoya shook his head, "Nothing," He said dismissively.

Tamaki bit the inside of his cheek lightly, standing there for a few more seconds before walking over and sitting next to Kyoya on the edge of the couch, looking to him. Kyoya looked back expectantly, because he looked like he had something to say.

"Kyoya... I don't think I can do this anymore." He said.

Kyoya blinked. "...Of course not, I didn't want to call you for that, it was a sudden act in a fit of panic, I thought you understood-"

"No, I get it, that's not what I meant." Tamaki cut Kyoya off, and he waited for him to say more. "I mean... I don't think I can be involved in this any longer, in any way. It's been putting me more on edge more than I can handle, recently, and... even if you stop using me, I don't..." He was having a hard time saying this, but Kyoya was starting to understand what he was getting at. Kyoya's expression softened only a bit. Tamaki continued, sighing quietly, "I don't see you any differently than I always have, despite all that's happened." That was a lie. "And I'm still your friend, but..." He trailed off, leaning over on his knees a bit and running one hand through his hair, breathing in, "If this is something you have to deal with... deal with it. I just... can't be a part of it anymore."

Kyoya, though he willed himself not to react in such a way, felt something of a light pain in his chest at those words. What Tamaki was saying, was that he didn't want to know about this part of Kyoya's life anymore... that it wasn't any of his business, and to stop involving him in it. This was both surprising, and understandable. Before this, Tamaki had been intent on taking care of Kyoya, keeping him in line, helping him through it all, without words. Now, it had gone too far, and he didn't want it to go any further, from what Kyoya was gathering. Anyone would feel that way. But Tamaki... that's not something he would expect out of him, with the kind of person he was. Not that he was disappointed... no, he wouldn't allow himself to feel that way. He had dragged Tamaki into this when he never should have said a word about it to anyone at all. And now he wanted out...

"Oh." For some reason, that's all Kyoya said in response. He looked mildly distraught, even a bit deflated. He was blinking slowly, and he looked away, slowly moving his arms to place his hands in his lap. He kept telling himself to stop, don't react this way, Tamaki was being reasonable and you shouldn't act this way, all it'll do is make him feel bad. "That's understandable, that you'd feel that way." He said, willing his voice not to drop.

"...I'm sorry, Kyoya..." Tamaki breathed, looking genuinely apologetic, meaning he'd caught just the kind of air Kyoya had been trying not to give off.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't want you to have to go through that anymore. It's my fault for going to you in the first place, I shouldn't have involved you in something like this..." He said. _You have no one else. _A voice somewhere deep inside him whispered, but he tried to ignore it. He'd find some other way to deal with this... as hard as it would be, he would endure, and he would keep living, keep focusing on his goals, and... just... keep going.

There was something of a dense silence setting between the two of them, and to keep it from becoming any thicker, Tamaki spoke again, "Whatever happened to me, I'm sure isn't anything I can't deal with on my own. I'll be fine... but, Kyoya, will you be fine on your own?" He asked, as if reconsidering this decision. Kyoya caught that immediately, and as much as he wanted to say no, instead he replied, "Yes. I've dealt with it on my own before..." He stopped, remembering that they both knew what that had resulted in, so he quickly corrected himself, "But I won't... do what I had before. I'll find another way." He said.

Tamaki looked doubtful, but still spoke. "Alright." Was all he said. A few more moments of quiet, before Tamaki forced a small smile, and said, "...So, see you at school?"

"Yeah. See you then." Kyoya nodded. This was their final goodbye. It wasn't as if they'd never see each other again. Only in the sense that... they'd never see each other in this light again. It was over. For Tamaki, at least. For Kyoya... he had a long, long way to go. And even though he hadn't admitted it, it was going to be much harder to deal with, alone... without anyone knowing what he was going through, without anyone who understood like Tamaki did.

He watched Tamaki leave, and didn't see him off. Soon, he was alone in his room, and he let his facade drop. He visibly... deflated. Looked as if he was shrinking where he sat. His confidence was fading, and soon there would be nothing left of it. He had no one... now, he didn't even have Tamaki. Sure, he would still have the club, and he would still have Tamaki in the sense that he had before all this began... but not really. There would always be this secret that only Tamaki knew of hanging over his head and burdening him always. He would never be able to go back to his normal ways, as much as it looked like he had on the outside, it never felt the same.

He felt his face growing hot, and his teeth clenching, and he gripped tightly at his pant legs with both hands. _Don't cry, you're pathetic. Don't you dare fucking cry._ He reprimanded himself, closing his eyes tight and breathing, swallowing so he could keep from doing just that. He forced himself to stand, going upstairs to the upper level of his room where his bed was, and didn't bother turning on the lights up there. He told himself he should do something, he couldn't sleep the day away, lay around and do nothing when there was work to do. But to be honest, he had zero motivation to do anything at all other than just lie here. Sleep... forget everything through sleep, if only for a few hours. He found that the only pleasant feeling other than the one he got from drinking out of Tamaki anymore were those few moments, between asleep and awake, where he wasn't thinking of anything at all... where he didn't even remember all of what was happening to him, and for a few seconds, he could lie in ignorant bliss. That was worth lazing around, at least... If only he could make it last longer.

He sat on the side of his bed, not even bothering to change, at all. He didn't have the energy. His head was starting to hurt. He crawled under his sheets, and kept his eyes shut tight. He couldn't stop his mind from playing the scenes from today back over and over again, remembering Tamaki's words, over thinking everything and making it much worse than it already was. When he finally did fall asleep, his brow was still lightly tensed and it wasn't a very peaceful rest, at all.

Such a cliche, but it still always rained whenever he was feeling just a bit down. An hour after he fell asleep, it started storming.


	12. 12

**_Warning, creeptastic._**

* * *

Tamaki had called his driver to pick him up after he left Kyoya. He walked outside, seeing that it was getting a bit cloudy out. He got into the back seat, and he was off.

He felt horribly guilty.

He knew he shouldn't. It was the right decision, wasn't it? After last time, before today, he knew he couldn't keep doing this. It was going to hurt him beyond repair and he had to get out of it. But then Kyoya called him with an unclear request that he immediately understood. It had come way earlier than expected, and everything had happened so fast that he didn't know what to do, and he gave in. And it had hurt him, it had killed him. His mind was still reeling a bit, running through the fact that he had died, today. Had that really happened...? It was hard to believe, but he knew it was true. This all made absolutely no sense... And that was one of the many reasons he had to get out of it. He couldn't keep letting Kyoya _use _ him like that. He knew Kyoya wasn't recklessly, thoughtlessly doing all of this. Many times, Kyoya had pleaded with him to stop letting him do this, because he couldn't control himself, especially not if Tamaki didn't even put up a fight, as mentioned before. So it was partly his own fault, and he didn't deny that. Still...

Now that he had time to think, and wasn't distracted by Kyoya's presence, he was more aware of how he felt, physically. During the past few weeks especially, he had been feeling weak, and more often than not had at least a small headache. He was on an extremely health conscious diet that Kyoya had helped him with, consuming vitamins in different forms to make up for the ones that he would otherwise lack due to all the blood loss. It was true that all of this had been slowly killing him, and it was more painful than it would be if it weren't dragged out. When someone dies from the type of anemia induced by blood loss instead of lack of certain nutrients, it usually happens within hours or even days depending on how severe, untreated, and immediate.

It took Tamaki months.

So, yeah, pretty painful. But, right now? He didn't feel weak. For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like lying down and never getting up again. He felt he could walk a normal distance without nearly passing out. It was as if he had suddenly been healed completely. Well, he had been healed in one way, he knew that. He kept subconsciously touching at the spot where there should be some kind of wound, scar, anything, but there wasn't. Kept expecting it to hurt like it usually did when he touched it, but it didn't. Why...? It wasn't as if he wasn't very okay with this. He felt better than he had in weeks.

The same couldn't be said about his mental state. He couldn't help feeling guilty about what he had just done to Kyoya. He knew very well that Kyoya was suffering, and that Kyoya would more than likely hurt someone else other than him if he stopped. But he _had _ to stop, because he couldn't take it anymore...

_Augh_. There it was again. His thoughts were so repetitive, the same thing, over and over again. No matter what, it always came back to the same thing: He couldn't take it anymore, and whatever he did, whether it be stopping or continuing, there would be consequences. At first, his decision to let Kyoya use him had been based off the cause that it would stop Kyoya from hurting anymore innocent people. Then, it had turned into this need to take care of Kyoya, help him through something very difficult he was going through.

He felt stupid now, but he had actually gone online and looked up, 'how to end an unhealthy relationship.' He didn't know what he thought he would find. It had brought up a bunch of stuff on how to break up with a partner that was causing emotional pain or get help to escape an abusive relationship.

Abusive relationship. Could what they had be considered that...? He remembered thinking that and covering his eyes with one hand, sighing loudly. That was a stupid question. Nothing he found online was going to help him with this kind of situation.

As hard as it was for him, harder than he had made it look, he had done it, and now it was over. As much as he wanted to help Kyoya, he couldn't. And it was not his responsibility to prevent others from falling prey to him. When he phrased it that way, it just made Kyoya sound like some kind of animal. He certainly acted that way when the time came. But Tamaki was trying so hard not to think of him that way. Kyoya was _not _ an animal. He couldn't help himself, it wasn't his fault.

But then, whose fault was it...?

He hoped Kyoya would be okay. More than anything, he wished he could help him, but he just couldn't, there wasn't anything he could do, and it was going to burden him for a while.

The car trip back home seemed to last longer than it actually had, because the whole time Tamaki had been staring out his window, lost in thought.

Once inside of his house, Tamaki excused himself to his room, again. He had nothing to do... there was a lack of constant communication with the host club as of late. Usually Tamaki was the one to come up with all the crazy ideas for places they'd go, things they'd see together, but now, he never did any of that, and so everyone had somewhat distanced themselves from each other. Tamaki wasn't even aware that he was doing it.

_Don't go into the bathroom. Don't do it._ Tamaki felt ridiculous, but all he wanted to do was go check. Look inside his mouth... just to make sure... but that was just being overly paranoid, and there was no way it could be true. No way. Vampires weren't even real things, and they didn't bite people, and they didn't turn other people into vampires. Kyoya wasn't a vampire. But... he bit him. And he had miraculously come back from the dead. Hey, wasn't there a thing about vampires already being dead? ...No, stop it. Stop it right now. He stared hard at his bed, holding both hands at the foot board, leaning over slightly. Don't do it, Tamaki...

...Just... just to make sure, right? It was only reasonable... to make sure... yeah.

He went right into his connected bathroom, flipping the lights on and intending on just checking. Before he could, though, he caught sight of himself in the mirror again.

Oh...

It was more noticeable than before.

His eyes didn't look at all the same. It wasn't just the color, but something else that he couldn't place. He made an odd look, leaning into his reflection, looking closely into his own eyes. Why...? There had to be something happening, here. It was as if all the color had been drained from his eyes, leaving them a grey that was barely even blue at all anymore. It was very odd to see himself that way, in contrast to what he was used to. Kind of depressing, really. His eyes were one of the things that made him a favorite in the host club.

"Tch," He made a sound, that was nothing to think about, right now. Time to do what he'd come in for. He squinted, looking hesitant, but he opened his mouth, tilting his head back a bit to look inside.

Nothing.

He closed his mouth, sighing in relief. And then his shoulders dropped, and he hung his head a bit. Stupid, stupid. Of course there wouldn't be anything there. Now he just felt ridiculous. He shook his head at himself, looking back up at his reflection, into his eyes. He was back to normal, all except for those. People were definitely going to notice. He really had no reason to wear contacts, and no reason to _want _ to wear them, unless it was for some kind of cosplay or something, so he couldn't use that excuse. Come to think of it, the club hadn't done any kind of cosplay in quite a while. Because it's leaders were very preoccupied...

Maybe he should give them a call... go do something with everyone. On his free days, and his time to himself, Tamaki found he was beginning to act very anti-social. It was only recently that he even realized the fact himself. And then he thought about going out or doing the things he used to enjoy, and had no real motivation to do it at all. It wasn't as if he disliked spending time with his friends. So, why? Why did he suddenly prefer being alone over being with everyone?

Before, he thought maybe it had just been because he never felt very well anymore, and didn't have the strength. Now, he felt perfectly fine, and he still didn't really feel like doing anything like that any time soon. Maybe it was just because there was a lot on his mind? Or the eyes thing. At least he didn't have to wear makeup anymore. That had been tedious and it felt weird.

He was getting off track. There really were a lot of things distracting him, and often he'd just sit around and think. He really was acting strangely... no wonder everyone was so concerned.

* * *

Kyoya fell asleep around six in the evening, and woke up at two thirty in the morning. He had unintentionally slept for a full night's period. Why didn't anyone wake him up? Now he was wide awake in the middle of the night.

Well. Maybe not wide awake. Moments after he awoke, he realized it was night time, and closed his eyes again, pulling the sheets in closer to his face. His head hurt, and the only reason for that was that he had been lying down too long. And the only way to fix that was to get out of bed.

But guess what Kyoya didn't do?

It was at very least another forty minutes before he finally dragged himself out from under the sheets. He had tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't do it. Sleeping too long made him feel ill, and most of the time he couldn't even accomplish it. Sure, he was no morning person, but he didn't sleep for fifteen hours at a time, either. That and it was the middle of the night. Time to screw up his sleep schedule even more.

He was still in his clothes, white, long sleeved, V-neck T-shirt, black pants, socks. His glasses were on his bedside table, and he didn't bother with putting them on. He had marks on his waist from his belt... ughn. He reluctantly sat up, scooting over to the edge, and letting his feet touch the floor. The air was cold compared to the warmth under his comforter and he immediately missed it. It hadn't taken long at all for all the memories of the day to rush back into his mind and it almost made him dizzy. He didn't even have the capacity to let it get to him at the moment. His head hurt, and he still felt extremely sluggish though he'd just slept for nine hours. All that was filling his head, now, was white noise and it was easier to focus on that than anything else.

What better to do at three in the morning than take a shower?

It'd certainly wake him up. He didn't particularly like the feeling of spaghetti limbs and being too warm or too cold at the same time. Maybe it'd at least help him clear his head, like it had many times in the past. Besides... he had nothing better to do. Well, he had work to do, yes, he _always _ had some kind of work to do. But recently, being the best at _everything _ and still never being good enough in his father's eyes was more than tiring. It had no appeal. Not even a little bit, not anymore. It was an obligation, it always had been, but now, it felt like one more than ever. He had no motivation to accomplish anything like that anymore...

So he wouldn't do any of that. He'd shower, and then maybe see if he could focus on something other than self pity and regret, because that was getting very old, very fast.

He pulled himself up on his feet, pacing over to the stairs, being able to hear the sound of his own muffled footsteps on carpet much louder than they actually were, for some reason. He made his way down the steps and right into his connected bathroom, where the lights were already on, breathing in deeply in and out once and running a hand through his messed hair while closing his eyes. He closed the door behind him. His first instinct was to look in the mirror, which couldn't be avoided either way because it took up nearly an entire top half of the wall. So when he opened his eyes, he did, and it was no surprise that he still looked awful. His eyes were half lidded and you could tell he had just woken up, but it looked like he had woken up after getting less sleep than he needed, which wasn't the case. Sickly pale, for a reason he still couldn't figure out. From what he knew, consuming blood did not cause your skin to do that. But then, he didn't know of any cases where humans consumed so much human blood as he had in the last few months. That had to do something to a person. He was confused as to why it wasn't making him sick. Honestly, he was beginning to feel less human even more now that he was dealing with this... God, he was so reckless with it. If he had control over himself, he would never have been so careless. Doing something like that was extremely dangerous, not only for the one on the receiving end, but for him, surely. People weren't meant to consume other's blood, or blood all alone, period. You just didn't do that. Kyoya... had already struggled with the concept of his own humanity, and how he saw life. This was very obviously worsening his personal view on himself. If he were honest with himself, which wasn't often, he had even been a bit more than a little down now and then. He wouldn't let his knowledge make him diagnose himself with depression, even though he had a _lot _ of the symptoms. Told himself he had no reason, and no right to be depressed... it was becoming more and more obvious that he was, indeed... If none of this were happening, he'd be able to control it. This was all he needed to let it completely consume him.

Kyoya's eyes, already being dark, hadn't noticeably changed, much. He didn't notice how much darker they had become. Whether that meant literally, or that the light behind his eyes was fading away. He never looked closely enough, and didn't already have such vibrant eyes as Tamaki that he would notice such a dramatic change. He stared into his own eyes for a long time before he finally moved again.

He turned away from his reflection, leaning over and pulling his socks off his feet, tossing them aside. He stood back up straight and pulled his shirt up over his head, also just throwing it on the floor, not bothering to hang anything up. Before he removed the last of his clothing, he turned the water in the shower on, pulling the glass door closed and waiting for the water to get hot. It would only take a few moments, but as he waited, he leaned back up against the counter, closing his eyes and breathing in and out slowly. The only reason he kept doing this was to keep himself calm. As relaxed as he seemed to be right now, he most certainly was not. His heart was beating faster than was normal, for no reason at all. He had no reason to feel scared, or panicked. Not in the sense that there was any immediate threat, at least, and he hadn't been moving around too much at all. Even so, he did try to ignore it. He figured, why dwell on the unusual anymore? Everything was 'unusual' at this point, and it was becoming tedious to constantly think them over, try to figure out the reasons why. So he didn't dwell on it, but simply tried to resolve it.

Soon the water would be warm enough, so he moved away from the counter, shedding the last of his clothing and opening the glass door. He stepped inside, closing the door again. The warm water pouring over his skin actually felt alright, and even though it was a small warmth, he sighed at the feeling. It was one of the few pleasant sensations he could enjoy anymore, without being regretful or guilty of afterwards. He dipped his head under the water pouring from above, letting his hair soak and then pushing it back out of his face with both hands. It wasn't so much for cleaning his body as it was for cleansing his mind, if only for a little while. He found that showers, even before this all started, always seemed to clear his head a bit.

_Before this all started..._

Kyoya spent at least ten minutes in the shower, washing his hair and all, before he got out and got dressed again. That only took maybe ten minutes, as well, what with drying off and everything. He didn't bother with his hair, and just dried it off with a towel, leaving it damp until it air dried. He put on what he used for night clothing (also known as random items of clothing he pulled out of his drawer, which so happened to include darkly colored jeans- who knew?) and went back upstairs to his bed. He actually felt... sort of alright, at the moment. As long as he didn't directly recall his memories of his time with Tamaki... or think about the taste... he was fine.

He turned the lamp on beside his bed before he did anything else, not turning on any of the over head lights. Yellow light was more calming than bright white light, and light from only a small source was better than having it blaring from all angles... it helped him not to get too worked up. He crawled onto his bed, met by the numerous large pillows he owned and the comforter that was pushed down near the end of the bed from his moving, earlier. He didn't know what he was hoping to accomplish with all this. Sleep? But then, he wasn't tired at all, especially not after he'd showered.

If only he had somewhere to go. Something to do, that didn't require all the thought in the world. If only it weren't four in the morning, and he wasn't so miserably wide awake. Too much to think about, nothing to do, this wasn't going anywhere. H e had almost gotten used to his hastened pulse at this point, that he barely noticed it anymore. He took a breath, picking up his phone off his bedside and scrolling through his contacts. Of course he didn't plan to actually call anyone, it was four in the god damn morning. He was just trying to distract himself.

Kyoya had a lot of business contacts that took up most of his list. And then in the midst of all those were the other club members, here and there. Haruhi and her home number were the first to show up. He uselessly wondered if she was asleep right now. Had she gone to bed peacefully tonight? Hunny... the Twins... Mori... Tamaki...

He felt like a teenage girl all of the sudden as he lingered on Tamaki's number, staring at it. As soon as he realized he was doing that he actually rolled his eyes as if he had caught someone else doing it, flipping the phone shut and putting it right back where it had been sitting harshly. Stop... Stop. Stop. _Stop_. He pushed the heels of his palms against closed eyes, brow tensing severely. _Get out of my head_. He demanded, pleaded- that blonde idiot had pried his way into _everything_ and he couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't take thinking about him for another minute. Not about his voice, or his face, or the way he felt and tasted, because all of those things were pushing him over the edge, all of the physical aspects of him, added to who he was and what he meant to Kyoya...

**_Stop._**

His heart was pounding loudly in his ears, now. It wasn't from this distress, it had been getting progressively worse as minutes passed on, and now he was breathing heavier than he had been before while he covered his eyes. He had started thinking about Tamaki, far too much. Thoughts of Tamaki led memories of the desires that he was disgusted with, but couldn't hold in. Faster... He slowly moved his hands away from his face, setting them beside him on the bed. He kept his eyes closed, swallowing and trying very hard to calm himself, but that was probably just making it worse. What was happening to him?

...Oh, _no_. He suddenly felt it, and his eyes snapped open. He started shaking a bit, his hands balling into fists. _You've got to be kidding me... _It had only been... it had been _less_ than a day. This couldn't be happening... please, don't be happening... he brought a shaking hand up to cover his mouth, but moments after he did that, he had to remove it.

"Tch-" He made a sound, his mouth opening a bit. You could see them... the teeth he was not supposed to have were just as visibly obvious as they were right before he bit into Tamaki, every time. He frantically climbed off his bed, about to walk downstairs, but he fell to one knee on the floor, making a sound and steadying himself with one hand on the floor. It hurt. The only thing he wanted to do right now was go after anyone, anyone near by, it didn't matter who it was... and he was using every single bit of will power he had to keep himself from doing just that. His breathing was uneven, he felt like he was going to hyperventilate.

_Hurts, doesn't it?_

Kyoya was having a hard time on focusing on anything but the hunger rising in him and trying desperately to control it, when he heard a voice the was not his own... but it sounded like a thought, it wasn't coming from any external source- he would be reacting more if he weren't so... well, preoccupied.

_S'alright. Won't hurt for much longer. Come on, I'll help you._

There it was again, louder. Now he was definitely paying attention. As hard as it was, trembling and keeping himself from running while he was kneeled on the floor, he could hear it, and he swallowed, trying to stand up. Wait... what was he doing...?

_There ya go. Right, now just make it out the front without the family hearin' you. I'll direct you from there._

He found himself doing exactly what this unfamiliar voice was telling him to... it was as if he had just given up on trying to hold back, because it was easier to just do whatever this voice was telling him- it was easier to comply. Kyoya found himself calmer than he had been before, but his heart was still beating fast, he could feel it. But he was having an easier time walking.

He had on the black tank top and jeans from earlier, the clothing he never actually wore outside of the house. He made his way out of his bedroom after going down the steps, and from there started heading towards the front door... trying to be quiet, calm his breathing so he wasn't heard.

_Doing great so far. You're almost there- I'll get you where you're goin', don't worry._

It was almost comforting, this voice...

Soon, he was at his front door... he slipped on the sandals that were near by and, being as silent as he could possibly manage, slipped out the front door. He only just now realized that his teeth had receded, and were no longer visible.

_Okay, now just keep walking- you'll know where to go from here. Don't freak out at the magnetism, just let it pull you._

Kyoya's eyes were wide and blinking, and it was as if his mind had gone blank. He was still severely hungry, and it was hurting him, so he kept going. He did feel this odd pull... like something was pulling him in one direction, and he followed it. And he kept following it until he had gone farther away from his house than he'd ever gone on foot. He ended up near some kind of... market? Oh, this was one of those mall strips... It was dark, but the city was lit up, so it wasn't hard to see. He felt the pulling, behind the mall strip he was near, so he immediately went that way.

When he finally got there, his eyes landed on a male that was taller than himself, standing there, as if expecting him. The male smiled at him, standing a few feet away. "Finally." He said, and his voice was casual, not too deep in tone. Kyoya stared at him with wide eyes. His breathing was still heavy, and he was blinking fast. The male walked towards him, only having to look down a bit, as they weren't extremely different in height. Kyoya stared up at him. This person felt different... something about being near him was just different than being near other strangers. But that didn't change the fact that all he wanted to do was eat him. He had subconsciously started eyeing him. The male chucked, as if reading his thoughts, "I know. Come on." He took his hand without asking and pulled him away from where they were standing, and walked until they were in between two other buildings, creating something of an alley way. They were near the wall of one, and the unfamiliar male looked to Kyoya again. He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his dark dress shirt, that Kyoya just now realized he was wearing. He was actually very well dressed- his hair was like the color of Haruhi's, only a bit darker, and longer, pulled back in a loose ponytail behind his head. Kyoya kept looking at him...

"Come here." He said. Kyoya didn't need to be told twice. He moved in on the other male, doing what he had been holding back on for what was only about ten minutes, but felt like an eternity. He gripped at the front of the male's shirt, biting into him so quickly, like he had no doubts, didn't think it over one bit. He wasn't aware of the hands that were on him suddenly. The taller man smiled, leaning back up against the wall, closing his eyes as he pet the back of Kyoya's head gently and then held onto him, keeping him steady as they stood, Kyoya trembling lightly and drinking from him.

"Good boy..."


	13. 13

**_I've been leaving you with a lot of questions, and this will probably bring up the most, yet. Please, stick with this. Your questions will be answered soon. I have something planned, but I'm not sure if I'll go through with it yet. _**

**_Right, please enjoy chapter thirteen._**

* * *

Eiji walked along in he shadow of the building he was behind, hands in his trouser's pockets. It was nearly four AM, and it'd begin to lighten up outside in just a few hours. So he figured he should do what he came to do pretty quickly. He'd pick the kid up if he could, but he didn't have the means to, and he probably wouldn't be willing to just hop into some stranger's car, even with the state he was in. So he stopped where he stood, closing his eyes lightly. His breathing slowed, and he stood as still as he could. He traveled, and prepared himself so he wouldn't fall.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" He said out loud. He could feel the anxiety rising in this kid, and he identified it immediately, because he remembered feeling the same way, many times in the past. He clenched and unclenched his fists to avoid breaking down as Kyoya was, right now, because he could feel everything Kyoya was feeling as he spoke to him. Somehow, he managed to keep his voice steady. He didn't expect to get a response, but he knew he was listening, so he continued. "S'alright. Won't hurt for much longer. Come on, I'll help you." If anyone saw him now, it'd appear that he was talking to himself, with his eyes closed.

He felt the kid trying to stand up, and he smiled lightly, swallowing, "There ya go. Right, now just make it out the front without the family hearin' you." He paused, running a hand over the back of his head, "I'll direct you from there."

In his mind, he watched what was happening through Kyoya's eyes. It had been difficult to stand completely still or not move in the exact way the one's mind he was in was moving at first, but he had gotten good at this with much practice, if you asked him. He felt Kyoya struggling, and felt a wave of sympathy, so he encouraged him on. "Doing great so far. You're almost there- I'll get you where you're goin', don't worry." His words and his calmness were helping Kyoya to relax a bit as well. All he had to do was keep the link up long enough to get him out the door.

He knew it'd take a small while for him to get here, but it was alright, as long as he knew the way to go. Which he didn't, really, but Eiji was directing him, so whether he knew or not, that's the way he'd go. He watched as Kyoya made it outside finally, and he continued, "Okay, now just keep walking- you'll know where to go from here. Don't freak out at the magnetism, just let it pull you." He finished the last of his words to the kid, deciding that'd be enough to get him here. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, tilting his head back to look up and blink, recovering. It only took a few moments. He couldn't do that for too long, lest he get stuck in there. And with Kyoya, especially, that was not something he wanted. It was pretty dark there in that head of his. He sighed, shouldn't he keep and eye on him while he walked, or something? ...Nah, he'd be fine. So he waited, pacing slowly as he had before. He smiled to himself, thinking about seeing Kyoya again, finally. At first he'd felt like a pedophile or something for taking on someone so young, still in high school, even. In all honesty, he still did, a little bit. But, what the hell, you know? It's not like he had any real reason to care about that anymore. He knew he was damn creepy, but that's just what this all brought on him. Caring was an unneeded burden, so he stopped. Mostly... It wasn't as if Kyoya was even going to remember him. That was a downer, but he'd drag him if he had to. He shouldn't have left him alone for so long, and he regretted it, but it wasn't his fault, damn it. Augh...

After a while, he felt Kyoya nearing to him, and he turned around, waiting to see him come about the corner. After a few moments, he did, and Eiji smiled just at the sight of him. Kyoya stopped a few feet away from him, and he disregarded the utter panic written all over him for the moment.

"Finally." He said, and then walked toward him, smiling softly down to him. Kyoya didn't answer him, and he didn't expect him to. He felt Kyoya ogling him and he laughed lightly, "I know. Come on," He said, taking Kyoya's hand in his and leading him away. Kyoya just followed him without question, which didn't surprise him. He'd go along with anything, the way he was now, as long as it ended in what he wanted it to. He could feel the kid's hand, cold and shaking lightly in his own. When he finally got where he was going, away from the eyes of anyone who might be passing by, he stopped and turned around to face Kyoya, who was staring him down hard. He unbuttoned the top buttons on his shirt, keeping his eyes on Kyoya the whole time. With that, he moved his hands away from himself and invited Kyoya nearer.

"Come here." He said. Right away, Kyoya grabbed onto the front of his shirt and bit into him harshly and without warning. Eiji took a quick breath, and then smiled, letting it out slowly. He felt the waves of ecstasy run through his system, and leaned back into the wall. No matter how many times this poison entered his bloodstream and exited through the source, he would never get used to it, and that was quite okay with him. No one would ever become 'accustomed' to the feeling. He brought his hands up, petting the back of Kyoya's head softly with one hand and then wrapping his arms both around him. "Good boy..." He said in a raspy tone. He held him steady, because he was sure Kyoya wasn't used to standing still while doing this, or standing at all. Eyes closed, he took contented breaths that he let out in sighs every now and again. He didn't stop Kyoya at any point, but rather just let him take in all that he wanted. And it went on for well beyond two minutes until he finally did stop on his own. Eiji felt the sharp ends finally pull out of his flesh, replaced by Kyoya sucking on the same spot and easing the burning. He was mildly surprised at this, because he hadn't expected Kyoya to be able to pick that up on his own. It was something they usually learned later on- at least, he thought. But he disregarded it, sliding his hands to hold at the side of Kyoya's arms.

Kyoya moved away, finally. He stopped, and took a small breath through his mouth, eyes still closed, and still very close. He was taking quiet, short little breaths- he'd never had so much all at once, before. It was both disorienting and wonderful... and he was taking a bit longer than usual to regain his senses.

Eiji's eyes were now half-lidded as he looked down to Kyoya, holding him steady. He smirked, "Heh, good to see you again, kid." Kyoya's eyes opened slowly, and after a few moments, he tilted his head up to look at Eiji. He had a look of mild confusion, like he didn't know where he was, or what had happened, but was too tired to fully express it. His brow was tensed lightly, and all he did for a few seconds was just stare at Eiji- but then he finally did blink, "...What.." He tried, finding his voice a bit raspy, so he stopped. He cleared his throat extremely quietly and it probably didn't even do much. But then he didn't speak anymore. He seemed to finally be getting a grip on his surroundings again. He blinked rapidly, groaning quietly and then looked at Eiji again, who was still just standing there, waiting for him to come to.

His eyes widened, and he was suddenly aware of hands on his arms, and how close he was to this stranger. How he'd come to be where he was right now, and the voice in his head. And when that happened, the quiet calm that had set between the two of them immediately disappeared.

"Wha-" He pulled out of Eiji's grip, stumbling back a bit before regaining his balance. "What- Who are you?" He said, looking angry all of the sudden as he said loudly and very aggressively, as if he was mad at him for... for what? His confusion came out as anger, a lot of times. Eiji rolled his eyes, walking towards him. Kyoya took a few steps back. This man- why was he acting so calmly about all this? Why was he acting like they already knew each other?

"Calm down, you're being overly dramatic." He said. Eiji knew this would happen. But he could enjoy the few moments when it wasn't, couldn't he? He kept walking towards Kyoya as Kyoya stepped back. Eventually, he hit the wall and had to stop. "Where are we? How did.." He stopped. This man spoke with the same voice that he heard in his head, and it was only now he could focus on that. He... was freaking out, now. Maybe more than just a little. "What the hell is going on?" He demanded.

Eiji got right up close to him, and Kyoya wanted to move away, but found himself trapped where he was. This man was obviously older than him, and he didn't look like a high school-er. He looked like he was maybe in his mid, or late twenties...

"Please, calm down, Kyoya." Eiji said, tilting his head to the side a bit, "Don't I even get a thanks?" He said, only half serious.

He stared up at him, his eyes still wide. What did this guy expect from him? He never said 'thank you,' to some stranger he used, if that's what he wanted. He wouldn't even have the chance to, because they passed out before he was done. He was aware suddenly that that had lasted much longer than any time he'd done it, and this person had been calm, the entire time- like Tamaki had, only, Tamaki couldn't take standing up. He would have fallen. Kyoya remembered almost falling during that, but being kept upright by the hands holding him... He was lost on words. He would ask the same questions again, but he was getting repetitive with that.

After a while, Eiji sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, come on, then. We're going." He said, standing up straight again and turning around, walking away. He seemed to be expecting Kyoya to follow him. Kyoya thought he was nuts. While Eiji wasn't looking, he tried to make a run for it. Before he could even take a step, though, he was shocked to suddenly find arms blocking him on both sides of his head, and Eiji leaning into the him, dangerously close. He gasped, his shoulders raising, suddenly feeling smaller than he usually did.

"Don't make me drag you, Kyoya." He said, his voice taking on a deeper tone, but still somehow sounded playful despite his serious expression. Kyoya, eyes wide, blinked and swallowed, finding himself unable to hide the sudden fear building in him. Eiji's expression softened and he slowly moved his hands away as he realized what he had done. He sighed, "Sorry. I forget that you don't know who I am..." He said. He looked down for a moment, and then back to Kyoya, he offered his hand. "I'm only trying to help you. My name's Eiji." He waited for a reply.

Instead of shaking his hand, which he had no intention of doing, he quickly glanced to the side, and back up at Eiji, hoping he hadn't noticed. Maybe he could... just...

As soon as he made a break for it, his vision was going dark and suddenly his limbs went limp. He was only vaguely aware of the hand gripping at the base of his neck tightly.

"Dragging it is..." Eiji sighed, letting go and watching Kyoya fall to the ground. He was hoping he wouldn't have to do that, but assumed he would, anyway. He walked over, bending down and picking Kyoya up, grunting and propping him up over his shoulder. He figured it would look suspicious to be carrying around an unconscious kid on his shoulder through the city, and he'd thought of that- he had his ways.

* * *

The next thing Kyoya knew, he was waking up on something soft. His eyes opened but he immediately squinted, bright lights hurting his eyes in contrast from the dark behind his eyelids. He didn't remember what had happened until his eyes adjusted and he sat up. He chest constricted, something of panic and fear, but it was too much to express so he just froze up. He took in his surroundings, a very clean space, an apartment. There was a window covering an entire wall, but it was covered save for a crack in the middle by a half transparent curtain that let in the city lights. But it was bright in here, too bright, so those were cancelled out.

He swallowed, looking around rapidly with just his eyes. He didn't remember ever feeling so frightened before in his life. That man had knocked him out just by touching him, and he didn't break down at the effects of getting bitten- who was he? _Where_ was he? Kyoya didn't see him anywhere. Without thinking, he reached into his pocket, but felt nothing. He hadn't brought his cell phone... he was trapped. What time was it? It was still dark outside. It couldn't have been that long. He had to get out of here. He had to get home. Had anyone noticed he was gone yet? Where was he...?

None of his questions were answered. It was only now he realized what he was on was a bed, the sheets under him were patterned dark blue circles with a black backing. His hands set on them and he subconsciously gripped them tightly, a habit of his when he was nervous or angry was to hold tightly onto anything near. It was too bright in here... for some reason that was one of the things that was easiest to focus on right now- where was the exit? He searched around for one with his eyes but saw nothing. This room was filled with a sitting area and TV, this bed, and a desktop computer nearby. Maybe... maybe he could...

Before he could finish his thoughts, a door opened somewhere he couldn't see around the corner and out came Eiji. He had changed, and he was now wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.

"Hm?" He raised his eyebrows, seeing Kyoya was awake, and smiled after a few moments, walking towards him. Kyoya's muscles tightened and he gripped tighter. Eiji must have noticed this, because he stopped mid step and gave him an odd look,

"...I remember you being bolder than this." He commented, and then continued in his pace towards him. He stopped near the wall, turning down a switch Kyoya hadn't noticed and dimming the lights slightly. Frankly, it was too bright in here for comfort, same for the both of them. He grabbed a chair nearby and took it with him, setting it beside the bed and sitting down, facing Kyoya. Kyoya was actually shaking. He didn't know what was wrong with him- well, he knew what was wrong, but he wouldn't usually act this way or portray so much fear outwardly. He'd felt it before, yes, but he was good at hiding it. _Used _ to be good at it... recently, more and more, he found it was becoming difficult to hide his emotions. He didn't say a word.

Eiji leaned forward, resting his head in his hand, leaning on his elbow. "Sorry, Kyo. I really wish I didn't have to put you through this. But-"

"Don't." Kyoya cut him off, with a surprisingly solid statement. Eiji blinked, "What?" He said, confused.

"Don't... call me that. I-" He found his voice shaking, so stopped for a moment to regain his composure and continued, "I don't know you. Stop acting as if we're old friends." He finished. Eiji raised an eyebrow, sitting up straight again. Then he smirked, "Mm... guess you're right." Despite his smirk, there was just a hint of something written on his face- hurt? Kyoya willed himself to stop trembling, calm himself, stay cool. He couldn't run, so he should try to get answers. He realized only now, he didn't have his glasses anymore... He'd left them at home. There were a few more moments of silence, and Kyoya looked the other male over. He had let his hair down, it went down just below the middle of his neck, and was sort of wavy, dark brunette. His eyes were a dull green, and his skin... looked too perfect to be natural on someone like him. Was he wearing make up?

"...Why did you bring me here? What do you want?" He asked, sounding too calm.

Eiji raised his eyebrows, and after a few seconds, started laughing. He covered his mouth, looking down and shaking his head. Kyoya's brow tensed, "What?" He spat, not understanding anything funny about this situation or his question. Eiji composed himself, and still smiling, spoke with a hint of a laugh still in his voice, "Really? Come on, have you completely forgotten your situation? Not at all curious if I have answers to the questions you've had no one to ask but yourself for months?" He answered with his own line of questioning. Kyoya didn't like being made out to look clueless... He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again and spoke more firmly than he had before. "This is kidnapping, I am an Ootori, if you're caught-" He was cut off by an overly exaggerated sigh from Eiji. "Augh, I forgot how stiff you were, before. Alright, enough of this, it's time to get to what you're here for." He scoot closer, and Kyoya leaned back slightly away from him. Eiji, more sternly now, looked at him and spoke, "Stay still. Don't move." He reached for Kyoya's arm. Kyoya flinched and pulled it away quickly, but Eiji caught his wrist and held him tightly still. Kyoya's eyes had widened again and he stiffened. This man was obviously stronger than he was, would it be wise to try to fight him? What was he doing? Kyoya could only assume the worst of everything right now. Eiji stood and sat back down on the edge of the bed next to him. He sat sideways, one leg folded under him, all the while holding Kyoya's wrist. He was too close for comfort, but Kyoya found his nerves acting up again and he tried his best not to start shaking.

Eiji's expression softened, "Please... just relax, Kyoya. I'm not trying to hurt you." He reassured, but it didn't to much to calm him down. He finally managed to get his throat to loosen and he forced words out, "What are you doing?" He said as firmly as he could manage. Eiji was now holding his wrist in one hand and moving his other hand gently about the skin above it. He glanced up at Kyoya, "...Stop pulling back. Please don't make me put you under again, I'd really rather have you be awake for this." Those were his last words for a while. Kyoya struggled a bit more, before Eiji finally got him as he wanted. He left the underside of his wrist uncovered and touched searching for his pulse- when he found it, it was quickened, which was to be expected. He leaned down a bit, and as his face neared to his wrist, Kyoya's eyes widened severely, suddenly realizing what he was doing. Before he could pull back anymore, there was a sight of the male's fangs sticking out and he sunk them into Kyoya's veins along his wrist. Kyoya gasped loudly, his free hand beginning to grip so tightly onto the blanket underneath him that his knuckles started turning white. His fingers spread and stretched as Eiji bit him, and it hurt. It burned... was this what he had been doing to Tamaki? His hand was shaking along with his entire arm, but Eiji was holding it steady with both hands, eyes closed as he drank from Kyoya's veins, audibly gulping. Kyoya could feel himself being drained, it was an odd feeling- he couldn't tell if it hurt or if that was just due to the fact that he had razors in his wrist and it was burning him.

"Ah-" He made a strained sound, his face contorting in pain, and he closed his eyes tightly, leaning his head back slightly and forcing his mouth closed, swallowing while breathing heavily. He didn't realize right away, but soon the burning began to ease, and it didn't hurt as badly as it had. Somehow, this felt familiar, and he had never done this before- never had someone bite him this way... this person was like him. That realization didn't take long to sink in but he couldn't focus on it because the sensations coming over him were flowing from that spot on his wrist all the way up to his chest, his heart, and it wasn't like anything he'd ever felt before. Soon enough... his eyes opened again, and he took in a sharp breath through his mouth.

There it was.

His hand that was being held away from him stopped moving and his grip on the blanket loosened. "Hah..." He breathed out slowly, the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding, and his eyes closed involuntarily. What... was happening to him...? What was this sensation... why was it sending chills up his spine and down his legs? Why was it warming around his heart and making him feel colder at the same time? Why did it feel so amazing...

He couldn't see it because his eyes were closed, but Eiji's eyes opened, looking up at him from under his brow, watching him. His eyes fell half lidded again and finally closed, drinking from him even more. He'd missed this... He'd missed how sweet this boy tasted, despite being so outwardly cruel, and cold- he had missed melting away his layer of ice and seeing the real person he was underneath, and now he had a chance to do it all over again... the one up side to him losing his memories of all that time they had spent together.

_How I've missed you, Kyo._


	14. 14

**_I'm so sorry this took so long. I have no real excuse other than procrastination. Also, I'm starting school soon, so updates might be slower than usual... I think I can credit my procrastination to being distracted by worry over starting school again. Anyway, here's chapter fourteen._**

* * *

It should have made Kyoya at least a bit light-headed, but it wasn't- he was leaning back on his hand with a look of bliss on his face, his head leaned back as well. His mouth was open, and he was making small, choked noises and gasps that suggested he was being pushed passed over-stimulation and it was very difficult to just stay still and take it. Which, frankly, he wasn't doing a very good job at. His back was arched and the arm he was leaning on almost gave out. Strained whines left him continuously. It was quite difficult to think about anything at all when his body was under such intense physical stress. A bite alone would hurt, but it wouldn't cause such a strong reaction, so it had to be something else inducing such a state on Kyoya. Eiji knew that very well, and he knew what it was. He decided it had been far too long since Kyoya had been indulged in this, and far too long since he'd had the chance to taste him. For Kyoya, it was like he had withdrawn from a very addictive drug for such a long time that it had become unbearable, and all of his frustration coming from not having it was being released too fast. Sharing this experience was far more intimate than Kyoya had any knowledge of. If he had known what it really meant to use one person continuously, and with their full consent... he probably wouldn't have chosen anyone for it, let alone Tamaki. Kyoya had no say in this, but at this point, he wasn't putting up a fight in any way; he didn't have the strength or the mind to.

Three minutes, and Kyoya might as well have already left the planet entirely. There was not a single stray thought floating around in his head, because it was filled with a ringing that should be unpleasant, but wasn't. Barely even noticeable. Eiji knew full well what he was doing would be considered gluttony, taking so much all at once, and he should be ashamed... but he didn't care, and he wasn't, not one bit. His own hands held gently onto Kyoya's arm, one in the middle of his lower arm and the other on the back of his hand, near the wrist, and there was a thin stream of blood pouring down from his wrist slowly, nearly falling onto the bed, but stopping before it could. Eiji eventually did come to, emerging from the haze his mind had sunken under, and darkened eyes opened just barely, staring at nothing. He stopped drinking at last, and slowly pulled his teeth out of Kyoya; stained. He licked them slowly, seeming to still be partially in the daze that immediately followed. Still close to Kyoya's wrist, his eyes lowered to examine it. Kyoya was still completely out of it, unable to notice it had stopped with the state he was in, trembling and panting. There was a deep bite mark, and it was bleeding slightly. Eiji leaned down, folding Kyoya's hand into his and licking up the trail of blood, and then sucking at the wound.

"Mh..." Kyoya made an involuntary sound, calmer than the ones he'd been letting escape him before, which was ignored by Eiji as he finally finished and started to regain his senses. The larger male took a deep breath, blinking away the daze and focusing on the sight of Kyoya before him. The sight brought a small smile to his face. Kyoya's face was dusted red with the flush that was fading back to normal tone on his face, and his eyes were still closed. He looked like he was about to fall back on the bed, struggling to stay upright. He loved to admire the afterglow of pure bliss written all over him when it was over, and it was more obvious than other times, now. He leaned forward slightly, taking one hand and placing it on the side of Kyoya's face, running his thumb over his cheek.

"It's been too long." He said softly. Kyoya swallowed, seeming to finally gain awareness of the fact that it'd ended and his thoughts and fears were fractionally resurfacing. However, he still had a warm feeling rushing over him and making him drowsy, so it was hard to focus on them. He did open his eyes to look into Eiji's, finding something different than what he was expecting, there. Those were the eyes of someone who was barely trying to portray sincerity, but succeeding to the fullest. He realized that he was being touched in more than one way; his hand was being held and there was a hand that felt cold pressed against his face. Why was it comforting? He didn't know this man... he should be frightened, or at least mildly creeped out. It was hard to tell, but he thought he might be having some form of déjà vu. All he felt like doing was sleeping...

There was a quiet chuckle, deep in tone, "I figured you'd need to re-adjust. It's alright to let go. I know how intense that must have been for you, after so long." He said. Kyoya didn't have the strength to answer. He wanted to speak up, because there was his own voice was screaming in his head at him, he had to get out of here. He had to get back home, he couldn't stay here, it was dangerous! But he didn't speak. And instead, he found his eyes closing, and doing just what Eiji had told him to do. _Let go._

"I'll wake you up when it's time..." He heard Eiji speak. He was vaguely aware of a hand on the back of his head, easing him down onto his back again, and soon enough, he fell out. He hadn't fallen asleep so easily in months, and his internal clock wasn't even ready for that, yet. Nonetheless, he slept.

Eiji sat back up straight on the bed, looking on Kyoya with eyes filled with some form of adoration that couldn't quite be identified as romantic. One of the most potent instincts that washed over him directly after he drank from Kyoya was possessiveness. He couldn't help it. As long as he'd lived, if he fed from anyone this long and formed such a bond with them, his first instinct was to keep them as close as possible and let no one else touch them, no matter what it took. If you told him that he would be what he was now someday, and doing what he was now, before it all started, he would have laughed in your face and dismissed the notion as some silly teenage girl's fantasy. It wasn't such a joke now that he was living it.

On a more realistic note... Kyoya was right. This _was _ kidnapping. He couldn't get caught, or arouse suspicion that anything was off, because this was something that he and Kyoya had kept in the shadows for a long time before they parted ways. Even if Kyoya was returned safely, a big fat 'Ootori kidnapping' plastered everywhere would be very counterproductive to keeping this quiet. He had to get Kyoya home before anyone noticed he was gone. It was about five forty AM, now, so he still had some time before anyone would start to wake up. He'd let Kyoya rest for a little while, because heavens knew he needed it.

Eiji's heart sank just a bit, continuing to watch Kyoya as he slept. Kyoya didn't even know who he was anymore. The only thing he knew about him was that he was probably the one responsible for what had been happening to him, and would most likely be infuriated with him. He understood the feeling... he hadn't chosen this life for himself, either. He pitied anyone who had to endure it, and he felt awful every time he dragged another innocent person into it. But, not unlike a lot of other things he did with his life, it wasn't his decision to make, whether or not he went though with it... this was the first time in a long time that he had taken on some one so young, or a male, for that matter. Someone important, even. The entire direction of his life was going to change; now that it had come this far, there was no turning back. Eiji couldn't help but wonder how he'd dealt with it all while they were separated. He couldn't have been found out, right? He wouldn't be here right now if he had been. The only thing he knew of what Kyoya had done while he was gone, was that he had for sure started feeding. The small news stories of the attacks throughout the school Kyoya attended, that had to have been him. But then it had just stopped; had he started using people other than the ones in his own school? Wise decision. He could have been found out if that went on too long.

The whole time Eiji watched Kyoya, he just thought. Sat on the bed, his hands resting alongside him. He wished he could take Kyoya away from the life he was living right now and just get on with it. But with who he was, going missing all of the sudden would not be ignored. It wouldn't be ignored no matter who he took unless they were a homeless nobody with no family, but since he was an Ootori, it would be a pretty big deal and much effort would be made to find him, so that wasn't and option. Not yet. Would he even want to leave his old life behind? Before he lost his memory, he would have agreed to it. After everything they'd been through, absolutely. But, now? Probably- no, _definitely _ not.

He sighed out loud. God damn it... why did he have to choose someone like Kyoya? He had no idea who the kid actually was when he went after him. If he'd known beforehand, he never would have done it. But it was too late now, and not only because he was already attached, but for reasons that were more pressing than that... reasons that you can probably guess at.

He ripped his eyes away from Kyoya at last. He put a hand over his mouth, leaning over on his knee. It'd be so easy just to let Kyoya sleep the day away, and have him wake up, and spend the remaining evening with him, like they used to do. Talk with him, like they used to. Like they used to... "Ughn." He groaned, closing his eyes. Why? Why did he have to disappear for so long? Get so far away to the point that it caused Kyoya to forget _everything about him_? He would've stayed with him through it all, were it his decision to make. But it just didn't work that way. It rarely ever worked out in his favor at all...

How long had he been sitting here? What time was it? Eiji glanced over at the digital clock high up on the wall behind the bed, squinting at it.

"6:04."

Damn.

Early risers, no doubt. Especially if they had _business_ to attend to, which they probably did... it made him roll his eyes. How could someone like Kyoya come from such a family...? Well, he supposed Kyoya was much different of a person before he actually met him. He remembered how up tight the kid had been for the first few...

Getting off track. It was time to get going, and as much as he dreaded it, it had to be done. Eiji sighed, letting his hand drop into his lap and looking back down to a sleeping Kyoya. He looked so peaceful, and he'd only been sleeping for just short of half an hour. Now that he'd had time to recover, he'd also have time to properly react to what had happened to him. Hm. Eiji stood, walking over to stand at the side of the bed next to Kyoya's face, and kneeled down on one knee, leaning forward. He reached over, shaking his shoulder gently. Though peaceful he looked, it couldn't have been that deep of a sleep. "Kid," He said, not too loudly, trying to get to him. It didn't take much, because Kyoya's brow tensed slightly and he started breathing deeper and shifting a bit. Eiji moved his hand away. He waited, and watched as Kyoya's eyes finally opened. They did so slowly, and he seemed to still have fuzzy vision from his eyes being closed for so long. He looked pretty calm, even as if he might just go right back to sleep. But then, it was quite obvious that he suddenly remembered the situation he was in. His eyes widened, and he glanced over to Eiji- "Hn-" He made a sound, flinching and sitting up quickly, his hands holding him up beside him. He looked to Eiji, eyes wide, and he calmed his breathing from his sudden fit of panic. Kyoya was _afraid _ of him... it was written all over his face, and it made something of a small crack in Eiji's confidence. It didn't feel good to be feared, to him- though he guessed it probably should lift his confidence instead of break it... not with this person. There were certain people he didn't want to be feared by.

"Morning." Eiji said, not letting it show. He stood up again, looking down to Kyoya.

Kyoya finally blinked, looking up to him- he was still calm as ever, despite all that he had just done to him. It was as if this was _normal _ to him and to be honest it sort of pissed Kyoya off. Not that he had any mind to portray that at the moment. Actually, he didn't even know what to say to him, even though Eiji was looking at him as if waiting for him to say something. There was a few more moments of silence, and Eiji took a breath, seeming to accept that he wasn't going to get any real meaningful responses out of Kyoya. He turned, starting to walk somewhere, "I'm taking you home before your family notices you're gone." He explained, picking up a light jacket from a couch that was faced away from them. He turned around as he slipped it on, "You can tell someone that you were kidnapped..." He started, pausing as he got the jacket on all the way, walking over to Kyoya again. "Or you can keep quiet, not cause a fuss, and I can explain everything next time we see each other." He finished, waiting for a reply.

Still sitting with his legs stretched in front of him on the bed, Kyoya blinked up to Eiji. He didn't know what to say, still. So, without thinking it over at all and being an idiot, he blurted out, "Next time we see each other? Are you going to lure me out of my home in the middle of the night again?" He said with a sharpness that he regretted after he actually took time to stop and think. Eiji put his hands in his pockets, leaning down to come face to face with Kyoya, and said quietly, and in a deeper tone than before, "Or I could keep you here, and use you as my own personal blood bag until there's nothing left." There was a threatening undertone that was so unfitting accompanied by his smirk, it almost made Kyoya break out in a cold sweat. He tried not to gulp, but he couldn't keep his eyes from widening. Eiji didn't move away, instead he took Kyoya's chin in his index finger and thumb and leaned in closer, whispering, "But you'd probably like that, wouldn't you?"

Kyoya's form went rigid.

Moments afterwards, Eiji's smirk turned into a grin and he let go of Kyoya, standing upright again and beginning to laugh out loud, not trying to hide it at all. Kyoya blinked with still enlarged eyes up at him as he spoke again with the laugh still in his voice, "I-I'm sorry, just..." He was laughing too much. "Ah, I'll be right back, gotta bandage your wrist before you go. Stay right there," He said, his laughing easing a bit as he walked away, around the corner, into what must be a hallway.

Kyoya stared in the direction of where he disappeared, still solid and staring with a look of what couldn't quite be called horror on his face. He finally snapped out of it and slowly turned his head, staring down at his lap. His now calm expression and still composure was not befitting to how tightly he was gripping at the sheets, so hard that his hands started shaking.

_This guy_ was_ pissing him off._

Forget all the supernatural... fucking... _blood sucking _ that was going on here, which he should probably be more concerned about, but he wanted to punch this guy in the face. _Hard_. What did he say his name was again? _Eiji_? Even his name spoke volumes about the ego he must have...! That was going a bit far and looking into it too much, though. Kyoya wasn't such an idiot that he would go ahead and pick a fight with this guy physically, because he was bigger and obviously much stronger, but oh, he felt like it... His usual reserved facade was slipping. His annoyance finally started to show on his face and his brow tensed, thinking back on the events before he fell asleep, which hadn't even felt like long. So, this person was indeed the same as he. And he seemed to know a lot more. That bite... he remembered it hurting like hell when it started. He couldn't remember any time in his life when he'd felt such extreme pain transition into something so pleasantly overwhelming. And... he didn't like to admit it, but... wow, was that what he had been doing to Tamaki for the past few months...? Oh, god. No wonder he didn't like to talk about it. He couldn't believe he had let this creep... hear those kind of sounds come out of him. He'd seen him at his most vulnerable, right there, and it made him more than uncomfortable, knowing that. What was he supposed to do, now? Just... casually let this guy take him home, and act like nothing had happened? Only to see him again, most likely soon? As much as he wanted to know what was going on, he did not by any means trust Eiji. Eiji, a man who had been able to get into his head and speak to him, lure him out of his house all the way across town, and on top of all of that, drank his blood and acted like they knew each other? Ha, red flags much?

Thinking about that, he lifted his hand, turning it and looking at his wrist. Not too deep, completely bare puncture wounds, right next to each other. Why didn't it hurt? It looked painful. He cringed, putting his hand back on the bed and not looking at it anymore than he had to. He was glad he couldn't actually feel it. But these kind of things could get infected... especially if they were contaminated with saliva... did that count for human saliva? _Why_ hadn't this come up when he bit Tamaki all that time? He didn't seem to have any kind of infection at any point, but still- why hadn't Kyoya thought this over more?! He was suddenly very irritated with himself. These were things he should have thought through thoroughly, and for some reason they were only just coming to him now- but then again, this wasn't any normal situation, and all the rules seemed to be broken. There were still mysteries like why the people he bit didn't have any traces of his DNA on them, when they definitely should have... or... why... he was turning into some kind of fifteen year old girl's idea of a sexy vampire...

His thoughts were cut off when he heard footsteps, and he looked up, seeing Eiji coming back with something in his hand. But he didn't get a good look, because Eiji came right up to him, "Come on, we need to clean that." He said, gesturing to Kyoya's arm. Kyoya blinked at him, trying to decide whether or not he should comply with anything this man told him to do- but then, what choice did he have? ...Besides, he was right. It should be cleaned. He stood up without answering Eiji. Eiji raised an eyebrow, looking down to him, "...Well, aren't you the talkative one." He commented, receiving a slightly agitated glance from Kyoya. Eiji got a small smile at that. "Heh, sorry. Come on, this way." He said, turning and expecting Kyoya to follow him there. It was confirmed he did when he heard footsteps behind him.

As the two of them headed down the hallway, Kyoya looked at his surroundings. There were two other doors besides the one they were going to, on one side of the hall- both closed. The room they had been in before seemed to be a living room converted into a bedroom. There was a light on the ceiling, and Kyoya couldn't find the switch to turn it on or off. The door at the end of the hall was opened, light pouring out from it. At the very end of the hallway was a closed door, that Kyoya could only guess was the front. Eiji turned into the open room, Kyoya following behind him. It was a modest sized bathroom with an enclosed shower in the corner, no tub. There was a large mirror above the sink, but they seemed to be mirror cabinets. Eiji turned around, only to see that Kyoya had stopped in the doorway. He looked at him oddly, "Come on in, I won't bite."

_Really, _Eiji?

Kyoya deadpanned. Eiji laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Sorry... saw the chance and took it." He said, "But seriously, get in here, we gotta get going soon." He said, still smiling. Kyoya did as he said, but was very put off at how this guy could go from casual and friendly to terrifyingly creepy in an instant. He still didn't say a word as he watched Eiji turn and grab what appeared to be a clean wash cloth off a wall handle behind him and turn on the sink, rolling his jacket sleeves up before running it under the water. He soaked it and wrung it out, finally turning to Kyoya and holding his hand out, "Give it here." He said. Kyoya hesitated slightly, but he held his wrist out. Eiji took his lower arm in his hand, holding it over the sink and running the folded cloth over the wound lightly at first and then with more pressure. The water was warm. Eiji focused on his task with half-lidded eyes, not seeming too concentrated. Kyoya watched him do so, and it was all in a silence that should probably feel a bit awkward, but didn't. Kyoya glanced up from the sink to look at Eiji's face more closely. He was trying to figure out who he was. But this person was completely unfamiliar- he couldn't identify him in any way... he was just a nobody who dressed well when he wanted to and lived in a modest apartment building, from what Kyoya could gather. Although those were weak assumptions, considering he only knew all that from what he had observed through the night. He should, again, really, _really_, be more concerned about the blood sucking thing than anything else. Why wasn't he demanding answers? Well, first of all, that would be stupid for reasons we've already gone over here, and secondly, Eiji seemed to be capable of being really fucking scary when he wanted to be and to add to that, also capable of giving a real _reason _ to be genuinely frightened. To start spewing out demands of how and why this was all happening didn't seem like such a good idea, at least not at the moment.

Not paying much attention anymore, Kyoya didn't catch himself staring at him before Eiji did. Finishing up, Eiji looked back up to Kyoya to find he was already being looked at. He didn't acknowledge it much, but Kyoya blinked and unassumingly glanced back down at his wrist. Shrugging it off, the taller male reached for the roll of gauze he had set on the back of the toilet seat and didn't dry his hands before he let go of Kyoya momentarily, pulling some of the cloth-like tape material out and taking hold of the back of Kyoya's hand again to hold it in place. He didn't have to tell Kyoya to stay still as he wrapped it around a few times and then ripped it free from the roll, taping it off there. He put the roll back where it sat, drying his hands off on a towel sitting there as well. Everything seemed to be in perfect convenience for this situation.

Kyoya turned his wrapped wrist over and examined it for a few moments before letting his arms set at his sides again, and looking up to Eiji, who took a breath and half smiled at him, "That's that. Let's get going." He said, still entirely too casual about all this. Kyoya stared at him. His smile faltered a little into something almost like a nervous twitch,

"Ah... I know you must not be too happy with me, but... you could at least nod." He said, his sense of humor still showing through.

"...Just take me home." He said almost in monotone, looking away from Eiji.

Eiji took a breath, "Right. Come on." He said, his previously light tone faltering quite a bit. He seemed to be hiding a hint of dejection. He slipped past Kyoya out the bathroom door, leading him down the end of the hall and to the door. There were reasonably fine dress shoes sitting there, as well as grey sandals and slip-ons that were dark maroon and just looked to be quick for slipping on and going. Eiji did just that, slipping them on. Kyoya suddenly realized those sandals were his, the ones he'd put on before he got here. He had those for summer... He followed in Eiji's step and slipped on his own, hearing the metallic clinking of what had to be a set of keys as he grabbed a key ring off a hook on the wall and shoved it in his coat pocket. Yes, he did have a car. The reasons why he couldn't use it at points were too complicated to really get into, right now, anyway.

He opened the door that led into a long lit hallway that had many other doors on it. This was a fairly well kept apartment complex, and Kyoya followed Eiji down the hall, behind him instead of next to him. He was still in those dark items of clothing, looking a bit too cold without a jacket, but not seeming to mind. Eiji had his hands in his pockets, and Kyoya kept his eyes locked onto him. Probably out of paranoia that he denied having. Every now and again Eiji would scratch the back of his head, standing up straight as he walked, but not once glancing back at Kyoya.

To him, this hallway seemed longer than it usually was.

He was glad Kyoya couldn't see the look on his face right now, also glad that he was able to hide body language fairly well when he wanted to. His expression was something of disappointment- although he knew he shouldn't be. He knew very well that this was going to happen, and it was foolish of him to expect anything else. He had a hard time looking into the dark eyes that no longer recognized him... not one bit, not even that little spark of recognition that he wouldn't quite understand when he felt it, like you see in books, and movies... he wouldn't admit that he'd been hoping for that. Not to himself, or anyone. His eyes turned downward to watch his feet as he moved forward. At least Kyoya wasn't putting up too much of a fight. He wanted answers just as much as Eiji wanted to give them. _  
_

They reached the elevator, and Eiji pressed the down button, waiting for it to come to them. He stood in front of it with his hands in his jacket's pockets, and side glanced at Kyoya. He was just staring at the elevator, waiting for it to open with a blank expression. It was like he was intentionally trying to hide all of anything he may be feeling at the moment, and if that were the case, it was working. When it was this quiet, the elevator seemed to be taking a very long time. Eiji averted his eyes away from Kyoya, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

It took an eternity in twenty seconds, but the elevator doors finally opened, and Eiji stepped inside, not having to tell Kyoya to come with. He hit the button that'd take them to the bottom floor from the one they were on now, which was apparently the third. It would only take a few seconds short of a minute. Kyoya was standing up completely straight, but not too rigid. Without his glasses, he did actually look a lot different. But Eiji, at this point, was used to seeing him without them. Did he really even need those, or was it a fashion thing...? He had never asked before.

Basically, the whole way out to the parking lot, until they got to the car, was very silent. The sky was turning from black to blue slowly. Eiji hit a button on his key chain which made the car's headlights turn on and make an unlocking sound. He walked around to the driver's side, opening his door and getting in. Kyoya followed suit casually, but he almost ended up sitting in the backseat because he was so used to it. It had been a while since he rode in the front seat of a car. He opened the passenger door and slid into the seat beside Eiji.

Eiji put his key into the ignition and turned it, muffled sound of the engine powering up outside. He took another breath, putting his hands on both sides of the wheel and looking over to Kyoya again, like expecting him to say something before they were off. He stared for too long, and Kyoya did return his look, only there was impatience written on his face. Eiji blinked out of it, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and clearing his throat, getting to it. When they got on the road, Eiji found himself side glancing at Kyoya every so often. He couldn't help it- he was just sitting there, completely straightened spine, staring out the window. He almost asked what was wrong, but then he remembered that he was taking him home after essentially kidnapping him- knocking him out, taking him home, coming onto him which... in Kyoya's eyes, must have registered as something else before it actually became clear what was happening. He'd looked terrified... oh, god. He's screwed everything up, hadn't he? He'd done it all in too much of a haste under the assumption that hey, he wouldn't mind too much, they'd done this many times before and as soon as he felt it again, he was sure to remember! Right? Wrong. Now he probably hated him more than was preventable...

Lost in thought as he drove, feeling incredibly stupid, Eiji almost went too far before he pulled up a bit of a distance away from Kyoya's house. But he did, and he stopped on the side of the road. Kyoya didn't waste any time, as he immediately opened his door and started getting out. If Eiji expected some kind of dramatic farewell... nope.

"H-Hey," He said with hesitation, stopping Kyoya with one foot out the door. Kyoya blinked, looking to him, and that look alone told him all he wanted to do was get away from him... or, that's what he read it as, either because it truly was that, or because it was what he was expecting. "...Ah, take care, Kyo... ya." He corrected himself, saying goodbye. Kyoya stared at him for just short of five seconds because he got out of the car and shut the door behind him, walking without looking back towards his house. Eiji let his mask slip and his shoulder's dropped, looking very, very dejected at this point. He sighed, leaning over on the wheel and covering his eyes with one hand. Nothing would ever be easy, would it? Stupid. Stupid.

He waited until Kyoya was inside before he pulled away, driving back to his apartment building. This was going to be a very long journey, wasn't it?


End file.
